Credit Cards - Understanding the Fair Credit Billing Act Podcast Transcript (2024)

FAQs

What is the Fair Credit Billing Act for dummies? ›

The Fair Credit Billing Act is a 1974 federal law enacted to protect consumers from unfair credit billing practices. It enables individuals to dispute unauthorized charges on their accounts and those for undelivered goods or services.

Examples of billing errors covered under FCBA

The FCBA covers an array of billing errors. Examples of billing errors covered under the FCBA include: Unauthorized charges on a consumer's billing statement. A billing statement that doesn't accurately reflect the date or the amount of a transaction.

The creditor must send you written acknowledgement of your dispute within 30 days, unless the problem has been resolved. The creditor cannot take any legal action against you while your complaint is pending. The creditor must investigate and resolve your dispute within two billing cycles, but no more than 90 days.

The FCBA's § 170 gives a consumer the right to sue or assert defenses against the credit company (instead of the actual merchant) in a dispute about the quality of goods or services received, to the dollar extent of the amount of the charge(s) involved.

Until the billing error is resolved under FCBA procedures, a creditor may not take any action to collect the disputed amount, restrict or close your account, or threaten your credit rating or report you as delinquent while your bill is in dispute.

The Act (Title VI of the Consumer Credit Protection Act) protects information collected by consumer reporting agencies such as credit bureaus, medical information companies and tenant screening services. Information in a consumer report cannot be provided to anyone who does not have a purpose specified in the Act.

The act applies to open-end accounts, including credit cards and revolving charge accounts, but not to installment-based payment contracts or debit card transactions.

1. Harassment and Abusive Language. Among the most common FDCPA violations, harassment sits as one of the worst. Debt collectors may employ aggressive tactics in the hopes that you will become afraid and agree to pay the debt, just to end the abuse.

Computational errors.

For example, if a bank combines a periodic statement reflecting the consumer's credit card transactions with the consumer's monthly checking statement, a computational error in the checking account portion of the combined statement is not a billing error.

What is the statute of limitations for the Fair Credit Billing Act? ›

Statute of Limitations

That means that a person has one-year from the date of the violation to file an action for a violation of the FCBA.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) generally enforces the Fair Credit Billing Act, and for more information on disputing a transaction, see here.

Whenever a statement of a dispute is filed, unless there is rear sonable grounds to believe that it is frivolous or irrelevant, the consumer reporing agency shall, in any subsequent report containing the informaion in quesion, clearly note that it is disputed by the consumer and provide either the consumer͛s statement ...

Section 809(a) provides that, within five days after its initial communication with a consumer about a debt, a debt collector must send the consumer a written notice.

Section 75 is an important UK consumer protection law made in the 1970s that means your credit provider must take the same responsibility as the retailer if things go wrong with a purchase.

The CCCA legislation would require big banks to give merchants a choice of two different networks to process credit card transactions. Currently, credit cards bearing a Visa logo are only processed through the Visa network, while transactions on cards backed by Mastercard are only routed through Mastercard's network.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) is intended to help prevent identity theft and credit-related fraud in an increasingly online economy. The law requires creditors and reporting agencies to protect consumers' identifying information and take steps to guard against identity theft.

The FCRA sets standards for collecting, disseminating, and using consumer credit information while also providing guidelines for resolving inaccuracies in credit reports. It ensures that consumers have the right to access their credit information and dispute any errors that may negatively affect their creditworthiness.

The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) provides similar regulations to the FCBA, except it governs other forms of electronic payments—such as money transfers and debit card purchases. This law was passed in 1978 to provide additional consumer protection for other transactions.