Your Consumer Financial Rights
A plain-language tour of the federal rules on credit reports, debt collection and identity theft, and the agencies that handle questions and complaints.
5 lessons · Estimated time: about 2.5 hours
Overview
Several federal laws set ground rules for the businesses that report, collect and lend. Knowing the basics makes it easier to recognize when something is off. This course summarizes the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the identity theft tools available to everyone and where to file a complaint.
It is general education, not legal advice. Each lesson links to the agency guidance or the statute it summarizes, and state laws can add protections not covered here.
What you'll learn
- The main consumer rights in the Fair Credit Reporting Act
- What the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires of debt collectors
- How credit freezes and fraud alerts differ
- Which federal agencies take consumer complaints
- How to find the text of a law and read the relevant section
Lesson outline
- 1. An overview of your federal rights Free sample
- 2. Credit report rights in detail Members
- 3. When a debt collector contacts you Members
- 4. Identity theft: freezes, alerts and blocks Members
- 5. Where to ask questions and file complaints Members
Estimated time: about 2.5 hours, in lessons of 25 to 35 minutes.
Take the whole course.
Lesson 1 of every course is a free sample. Lessons marked Members are part of the $12/month membership in this sample program.
Demonstration site: enrolling sends nothing and creates no enrollment. Courses are general education, not financial, legal or credit advice; they explain how things work and don't review anyone's situation.