
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 5, 1994                   TAG: 9405050148
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CREDIT BUREAUS IN FOR CLEANUP

Americans who have been denied a loan, a job or the chance to buy a home because of inaccurate credit reports would get new power to correct the record under legislation passed Wednesday by the Senate.

The bill, approved 87-10, marks the first major overhaul of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, which was designed for an era when the credit bureaus operated with handwritten file cards.

Computers have allowed credit bureaus to maintain far more information than in the past, and it's much more widely used. Employers now often check a potential employee's credit report before offering a job or promotion.

Over the last four years, credit report problems have become the No. 1 complaint before the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers have inundated Congress with horror stories of a faceless bureaucracy that ignored pleas to untangle their mixed-up records.

The bill and similar legislation cleared by the House Banking Committee would shift the burden of proof in disputes from the consumer to the credit bureau. After receiving a complaint, bureaus would be required to either verify the disputed information within 30 days or delete it.

For the first time, businesses that supply information to credit bureaus also would be obligated to investigate disputed information and would be subject to civil suits for failing to comply.

by CNB