FCRA Sections 604 and 611: Know Your Credit Rights FCRA Section 604 — Permissible Purpose FCRA Section 604 limits who may access your credit report and the legally permitted reasons for doing so. A company may generally access your report for reasons such as a credit application, an existing account review, insurance underwriting, a court order, or employment when the proper requirements are followed. A company cannot legally pull your credit report simply because it wants to view your information. How this benefits you: This law protects your privacy and gives you a way to challenge hard inquiries or credit-report access that you do not recognize. How to use it: Review the inquiry section of all three credit reports. For any company you do not recognize, contact the company and ask for its permissible purpose. Dispute unauthorized access with both the company and the credit bureau. Remember that written consent is not required for every permissible purpose, so focus on whether the company had a legally allowed reason to access your report. FCRA Section 611 — Your Right to Dispute Errors FCRA Section 611 gives you the right to dispute credit-report information that is inaccurate or incomplete. After receiving a valid dispute, the credit bureau generally must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, notify the company that provided the information, and review the information you submit. Information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified must be corrected or deleted. How this benefits you: This law helps protect you from incorrect balances, unauthorized accounts, inaccurate late payments, duplicate accounts, and other reporting errors that may lower your score or interfere with approvals. How to use it: Pull your credit reports, identify each specific error, and submit a clear dispute explaining exactly what is wrong. Include copies of statements, payment confirmations, identity-theft reports, or other supporting documents. Keep copies and proof of delivery, review the investigation results, and follow up if the bureau does not properly address your evidence.

Knowing this alone gives you the comfort that everything and anything could be deleted from your credit profile with the right strategies and sequence. You are protected on the Federal and State level.