A reference page. Every figure below comes from the text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 and following, checked against three copies of the statute (the U.S. Government Publishing Office, Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute and the Federal Trade Commission’s March 2026 text). Section numbers are given in both forms: the U.S. Code section and, in brackets, the Act’s own section number. Last checked September 2026. Federal law only; state law can add rights but cannot take these away.
How to cite this page: The Kim Law Firm, FCRA by the Numbers, thekimlawfirmllc.com/fcra-by-the-numbers/ (September 2026). Writers and researchers are welcome to quote any line with attribution.
What a violation costs
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| $100 to $1,000 per violation | For a willful violation, the consumer recovers actual damages or statutory damages “of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000.” No proof of loss is needed for the statutory figure. | § 1681n(a)(1)(A) [§ 616] |
| Punitive damages | For a willful violation, “such amount of punitive damages as the court may allow,” on top of the figure above. | § 1681n(a)(2) |
| $1,000 minimum | Where an individual obtains a report under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose: actual damages or $1,000, “whichever is greater.” | § 1681n(a)(1)(B) |
| Actual damages | For a negligent violation, “any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure” — lost credit, a lost job or apartment, higher interest, and the time and distress of the dispute. | § 1681o(a)(1) [§ 617] |
| Attorney’s fees and costs | In any successful action, willful or negligent, “the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney’s fees as determined by the court.” The defendant pays them. | §§ 1681n(a)(3), 1681o(a)(2) |
“Willful” includes reckless disregard of the statute, not only knowing violations: Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr, 551 U.S. 47 (2007). The willful-violation post explains what willful means and what damages are available.
How long you have to sue
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 2 years | An action must be brought not later than “2 years after the date of discovery by the plaintiff of the violation that is the basis for such liability” … | § 1681p(1) [§ 618] |
| 5 years | … and never later than “5 years after the date on which the violation that is the basis for such liability occurs.” The earlier of the two dates controls. | § 1681p(2) |
A report that keeps repeating the same error can produce more than one violation, each with its own dates; that is a question for the facts of the case, not a rule to rely on.
The dispute clocks
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days | After you dispute an item, the credit bureau must conduct “a reasonable reinvestigation” and record the result before the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date it receives your dispute. | § 1681i(a)(1)(A) [§ 611] |
| 45 days | The 30 days can be extended by not more than 15 additional days — only if you send the bureau more information about the dispute during the first 30, and only if the item has not already been found inaccurate. | § 1681i(a)(1)(B) |
| 5 business days | The bureau must send you written notice of the results not later than 5 business days after it completes the reinvestigation. | § 1681i(a)(6)(A) |
| The same 30 (or 45) days | The bank, lender or collector that supplied the item (the furnisher) must complete its own investigation and report back “before the expiration of the period under section 1681i(a)(1)” — the bureau’s clock is the furnisher’s clock. | § 1681s-2(b)(2) [§ 623] |
| 30 days | A financial institution that reports negative information about you must tell you in writing “prior to, or no later than 30 days after,” first furnishing it. | § 1681s-2(a)(7) |
What happens when the 30 days end with “verified” is covered in what a verified dispute actually means; the wording for the dispute itself is in the dispute letter template. The furnisher’s duty to investigate is triggered by a dispute that reaches it through the bureau — that is why the dispute goes to the bureau first.
How long an item can stay on a report
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 10 years | Bankruptcy cases, counted from the date of the order for relief or adjudication. | § 1681c(a)(1) [§ 605] |
| 7 years, or longer | Civil suits, civil judgments and records of arrest: seven years from entry “or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period.” (Since 2018 the three nationwide bureaus no longer carry civil judgments or tax liens at all under their own National Consumer Assistance Plan, but the statutory limit is what the law guarantees.) | § 1681c(a)(2) |
| 7 years | Paid tax liens, from the date of payment. | § 1681c(a)(3) |
| 7 years + 180 days | Accounts placed for collection or charged off. The seven years start “upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action” — so the clock runs from the first missed payment that led to the collection, not from the day a collector bought the debt, and nothing a collector does afterward restarts it. | § 1681c(a)(4), (c)(1) |
| 7 years | Any other adverse item of information — late payments included. Records of criminal convictions have no federal time limit. | § 1681c(a)(5) |
| $150,000 / $75,000 | The time limits above do not apply to a report used for a credit transaction or life-insurance policy of $150,000 or more, or for a job that pays $75,000 or more. | § 1681c(b) |
Two common errors are clock errors: a collection whose seven years were restarted (re-aged debt) and a debt that is still reporting after it was paid or discharged in bankruptcy. How long a collection account stays on a credit report walks through the 180-day rule with dates.
Free reports
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Once every 12 months | Each nationwide credit bureau must give you your file “once during any 12-month period upon request of the consumer and without charge.” The single official source is annualcreditreport.com, where the three nationwide bureaus have also made free weekly reports available, a program they have extended permanently. | § 1681j(a)(1)(A) [§ 612] |
| 60 days | A free report from the bureau named in an adverse-action notice, if you ask “not later than 60 days after receipt” of the notice. | § 1681j(b) |
| Free | Also free if you are unemployed and intend to apply for a job within 60 days, receive public assistance, or believe the file contains inaccurate information because of fraud. | § 1681j(c) |
When a report is used against you: the adverse-action notice
Whoever denies you credit, insurance or a job, or offers worse terms, because of a consumer report must give you notice of the adverse action; the name, address and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report; a statement that the agency “did not make the decision to take the adverse action and is unable to provide the consumer the specific reasons”; your right to a free copy of the report within 60 days; and your right to dispute its accuracy or completeness with the agency. Where a credit score was used, the score and the information behind it must be included. § 1681m(a) [§ 615]. Without that notice many people never learn which report caused the denial or which bureau to dispute with.
Employment and tenant screening
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Before the check: a standalone form | An employer may not obtain a report unless “a clear and conspicuous disclosure has been made in writing … in a document that consists solely of the disclosure,” and you have authorized it in writing. A disclosure buried in an application, or combined with a release of liability, does not satisfy this. | § 1681b(b)(2)(A) [§ 604] |
| Before the decision: a copy and the summary | Before taking adverse action based on the report, the employer must give you a copy of the report and the CFPB’s written summary of your rights. The statute sets no number of days; it requires that both reach you before the decision, so that you have a chance to correct an error first. | § 1681b(b)(3)(A) |
What to do in that window is set out in what to do when an offer is pulled after the background check; the screening company’s own duties are in employment background checks; every screening rule with its section is on the companion page, Background Checks by the Numbers.
Fraud alerts and security freezes
| Figure | The rule | Section |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | An initial fraud alert stays on the file “for a period of not less than 1 year.” | § 1681c-1(a) [§ 605A] |
| 7 years | An extended alert, available with an identity theft report, lasts “during the 7-year period beginning on the date of such request.” | § 1681c-1(b) |
| 12 months | An active-duty alert for service members: “not less than 12 months.” | § 1681c-1(c) |
| Free; 1 business day / 3 business days | A security freeze must be placed “free of charge” — within 1 business day of a request made by telephone or secure electronic means, and within 3 business days of a request by mail. | § 1681c-1(i) |
If an account you never opened is already on the report, the freeze stops the next one; the existing one is a dispute and, where the bureau keeps reporting it, a claim — see identity theft on a credit report and inquiries you did not authorize.
The one sentence everything else depends on
“Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates.” § 1681e(b) [§ 607(b)]. A credit reporting case is usually, at bottom, a claim that this sentence was not followed — a match on name and date of birth alone, a charge reported without its disposition, a balance carried forward after payment — and then that the reinvestigation under § 1681i did not fix it.
Sources
15 U.S.C. §§ 1681b, 1681c, 1681c-1, 1681e, 1681i, 1681j, 1681m, 1681n, 1681o, 1681p and 1681s-2, read in the U.S. Code as published by the Government Publishing Office (govinfo.gov) and by Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, and in the Federal Trade Commission’s text of the Act as amended (March 2026). The adverse-action, free-report and dispute figures were also checked against the CFPB’s model Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 12 C.F.R. part 1022, Appendix K. Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr, 551 U.S. 47 (2007), for the meaning of “willful.” Complaint volumes, if you need them alongside the rules, are in the firm’s credit reporting complaints study.
If one of these numbers was not honored
A bureau that took more than the statutory period, a furnisher that never investigated, an item that outlived its seven years, a job lost without the copy and the summary: each is a claim under the Act, and the figures in the first table are what it is worth. I review the report and the paperwork at no cost and bring these cases on contingency — you pay nothing unless we win. Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts. Get a free case review or call 855-996-6342.
Reviewed by Richard H. Kim, Esq., consumer protection attorney. Last updated September 2026.