The Fair Credit Billing Act is a law that explains what to do if a customer claims you made a mistake in your billing. The customer must notify you within 60 days after you mailed the first bill containing the claimed error.
You must respond within 30 days unless the dispute has already been resolved. You must also conduct a reasonable investigation and, within 90 days of getting the customer’s letter, explain
why your bill is correct or else correct the error.
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is another law you might want to become familair with, this law is so that you will not discriminate against a credit applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex or marital status. The Act does leave you free to consider legitimate factors in granting credit, such as the applicant’s financial status (earnings and savings) and credit record. Despite the prohibition on age discrimination, you can deny a consumer who hasn’t reached the legal age for entering into contracts.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is intended to protect consumers from having their eligibility for credit marred by incomplete or misleading credit report information.
The laws gives consumers the right to a copy of their credit reports. If they see an inaccurate item, they can ask that it be corrected or removed. If the business reporting the credit problem doesn’t agree to a change or deletion or if the credit bureau refuses to make it, the consumer can add a 100-word statement to the file explaining his or her side of the story. This becomes a part of any future credit report.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a law that is geared mostly toward third party collectors. Small businesses are more directly affected by state laws that apply directly to collection methods used by a creditor.
It is always a good idea to at least be aware of these laws and know as much about them as possible.
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