Credit Card Information

The credit card companies have good access to a wide ranging information about us. They already collect all the personal information such as name, age, address, phone numbers from us. While the vital financial details are acquired by the credit card company by accessing our credit reports. This information is very vital for the credit card companies and even more for us. How do the credit card companies use this information, and what more do they collect from our day to day activities. This article takes a look at all such things.

Whenever we make a purchase or borrow from our credit card the credit card companies gets the required information about the card, date of purchase, amount of purchase and place of purchase. It is good to have a receipt of every purchase one makes using his/her credit card since it is very useful to dispute any fraud claims.

The credit card employees who address who get all the formalities done like getting your application filled, scrutinizing your application, getting thins verified, entering the application in computers and processing them -- all can go through your financial and personal details. It is all bare before them, but all these employees are bound by the company regulations and must respect the company's privacy policy.

The customer service representatives, to whom you refer your complaints and other things also have access to all your private information. They need this to verify your identity and provide prompt and relevant customer services.

Whenever there is a claim for lost or stolen credit cards, the credit card companies do have to share your vital information with the security authorities.

Credit card companies use the information you provide, and your spending habits by recording your day-to-day credit card activities for research and analysis purposes. They also use this information to develop marketing programs that give them more leverage to get new customers.

Credit card companies do share information with their partner networks on a mutual basis for things that benefit each other. In addition to mutual benefits if a credit card company employs some other agency to do marketing or customer service on its behalf, the company also gets to know your personal and financial details.

Whenever, during a legal proceeding, a subpoena is issued, the credit card company must present your private details to the necessary authority.

These things may alarm you as how many people know everything about you! But, wait there is little to worry because the credit card issuing companies have to maintain physical, electronic and procedural security measures that comply with federal regulations to safeguard the information about every cardholder. There are very low incidences where actually the company which has issued the credit card has committed any fraud.

FCRA stands for Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 which, was specially designed to make sure that every consumer reporting agency acts in a fair and impartial manner and respects the consumer's right to privacy while preparing their consumer reports. FCRA grants extensive rights to consumers in USA. Here is a summary of these rights.

Every consumer in USA has a right to get his disputes investigated. The FCRA directs all credit bureaus to investigate such disputes, within 30 days. The credit bureau has to contact the creditor, any collection agency or institution that provided the disputed information. The law requires that the information provider should investigate the matter and report the findings back to the credit bureau.

In case the information provider finds that the dispute is correct and the information was wrong, he will have to notify the same to all the credit bureaus, not just the one which initiated the dispute enquiry. This is to ensure that any such dispute if present is corrected across all credit bureaus. This disputed information has to be deleted from your credit report.

After any investigation of dispute by the credit bureau, all its findings must be presented to you- the consumer in the form of a written report. This report must accompany any corrections made to your credit report due to the dispute investigation.

In case the dispute is not settled the way you want, the credit bureau will allow you to insert a statement -100 words in length, in your credit report to present your take on the concerned dispute.

If by any means, during the investigation of dispute the creditor, financial institution or collection agency breaches trust by providing inaccurate information or by not responding to the dispute, you can sue that agency in state or federal court.

In addition to it this law also makes it mandatory for all the three major credit reporting agencies to supply a free copy of your credit report each year when asked to do so.

Checking out your credit reports and monthly credit card statements regularly is a good way to find out any discrepancies, that can negatively affect your credit ratings.