First American CREDCO Eases FACT Act Compliance for Mortgage Lenders With Automated Credit Score Disclosure
December 15, 2004
POWAY, Calif., /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First American CREDCO, a leading provider of specialty credit reports to the mortgage industry and a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF - News) family of companies, today announced the availability of a service that automatically delivers a credit score disclosure with each credit report ordered. This service was developed to help mortgage lenders comply with a new requirement under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003 that went into effect on Dec. 1, 2004.
Under Section 212 of the FACT Act, mortgage lenders are now required to furnish a statement to home loan applicants disclosing their credit score, as well as key factors adversely affecting the score, the score range, the date on which the score was created and the name of the entity that developed the score. When a lender signs up for this add-on service from First American CREDCO, a credit score disclosure is delivered automatically with every credit report ordered. The disclosure report dynamically generates the consumer's unique scoring information using the most up-to-date credit data available and includes specific language required by the FACT Act.
"We've received a number of questions regarding FACT Act compliance through our customer hotline, and we're committed to ensuring that our customers have the tools they need to deal with this new legislation," said Stan Baldwin, senior vice president of strategic business development for First American CREDCO's Mortgage Division. "Through services like automated credit score disclosure, we're making the compliance process that much easier for our customers."
"The key to credit score disclosure compliance is ensuring that the consumer receives all the applicable information required under the FACT Act," said Jeff Wydra, director of legal and regulatory affairs for First American CREDCO. "With our direct connection to the national credit bureaus, our customers can be certain that the credit score disclosure report we deliver meets the pertinent requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as amended by the FACT Act."
The FACT Act, which was passed on Jan. 1, 2004, delivered a series of amendments to the FCRA. Section 212 of the FACT Act amended Section 609(f)(1) of the FCRA by adding a credit score disclosure requirement. The FCRA governs the way credit bureaus, consumer reporting agencies and resellers of credit information handle consumer credit information. The FACT Act is intended to provide consumers with easier access to their credit files, more comprehensive protection against identity theft and fraud, and greater credit information accuracy on consumer reports.
Source: First American CREDCO
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