Glossary

A national credit reporting agency with headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. This is one of the big three agencies in the US.

This is the term that refers to the time period that a negative record will stay on your credit report. Generally a negative item will

In 2003, the FACT Act amended the Fair Credit Reporting act, making it possible for a consumer to have access to a free copy of

This act amended the Truth in Lending Act to help give consumers more disclosure from credit card companies. The act mandates that card issuers provide

This federal law protects consumers from unfair billing practices. This could include unauthorized charges, unaccepted or undelivered goods, or other disputed charges.

The federal legislation that oversees what credit reporting agencies do.

A government-sponsored enterprise that purchases loans for different mortgage companies, packages them together, and sells them to investors as mortgage-backed security in the open market.

Originally known as Fair, Isaac and Corporation, this is a data analytics company that offers credit scoring services. A FICO score is a measure of

When a person requests that their credit reports are frozen by the credit bureau. When the file is frozen, it is not accessible to banks,