The Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Prohibits credit discrimination on the basis of sex, race, marital status, religion, national origin, age, or receipt of public assistance. Creditors may ask for this information (except religion) in certain situations, but may not use it to discriminate when deciding whether to grant you credit.

The ECOA protects consumers who deal with companies that regularly extend credit, including banks, small loan and finance companies, retail and department stores, credit card companies, and credit unions. Everyone who participates in the decision to grant credit, including real estate brokers who arrange financing, must follow this law. Businesses applying for credit also are protected by this law.

Your rights under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act:

You cannot be denied credit based on your race, sex, marital status, religion, age, national origin, or receipt of public assistance.

You have the right to have reliable public assistance considered in the same manner as other income.

If you are denied credit, you have a legal right to know why.

Your Credit Billing and Electronic Fund Transfer Statements

It is important to check credit billing and electronic fund transfer account statements regularly. These documents may contain mistakes that could damage your credit status or reflect improper charges or transfers. If you find an error or discrepancy, notify the company and contest the error immediately. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) establish procedures for resolving mistakes on credit billing and electronic fund transfer account statements that include:

Charges or electronic fund transfers that you — or anyone you have authorized to use your account have not made;

Charges or electronic fund transfers that are incorrectly identified or show the wrong amount or date;

Computation or similar errors;

Failure to reflect payments, credits, or electronic fund transfers properly;

Not mailing or delivering credit billing statements to your current address, as long as that address

Charges or electronic fund transfers for which you request an explanation or documentation, due to a possible error.