Discussing Credit Report Information

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Question:

How much information can a bank representative discuss with a loan applicant regarding their credit report without any lending regulations? I've heard everything from "nothing" to all but providing a copy to the applicant.

Answer:

607(c) of the FCRA: Disclosure of consumer reports by users allowed. A consumer reporting agency may not prohibit a user of a consumer report furnished by the agency on a consumer from disclosing the contents of the report to the consumer, if adverse action against the consumer has been taken by the user based in whole or in part on the report.

Personally, I don't like the idea of discussing this unless it is a simple matter. Otherwise you are doing the job best left to the credit bureau as there may be errors to resolve and explanations requested to be added to the report. You can't really explain why another creditor reported what they did. You invite ID theft and the possibility of giving out your bank's info in the headers/footers of the report.

First published on BankersOnline.com 10/4/04