Terms Used In New York Laws > General Business > Article 25 - Fair Credit Reporting Act

• adverse information: means information that is likely to have a negative effect upon the ability or eligibility of a consumer to obtain credit, insurance, employment, or other benefits, goods or services or information that is either wholly or partially responsible for increases in charges for credit or insurance. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• consumer: means an individual. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• consumer credit report: means a consumer report assembled, evaluated or maintained by a consumer credit reporting agency, bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• consumer credit reporting agency: means a consumer reporting agency that regularly engages in the practice of assembling or evaluating and maintaining, for the purpose of furnishing consumer credit reports to third parties bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity, public record information and credit account information from persons who furnish that information regularly and in the ordinary course of business. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• consumer report: means any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for (i) credit or insurance to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, (ii) employment purposes, or (iii) other purposes authorized under section three hundred eighty-b of this article. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• consumer reporting agency: means any person who, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports or investigative consumer reports to third parties. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Contemplation of death: The expectation of death that provides the primary motive to make a gift.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• employment purposes: when used in connection with a consumer report means a report used for the purpose of evaluating a consumer for employment, promotion, reassignment or retention as an employee. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act: Prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or because an applicant receives income from a public assistance program. ^{Source: OCC}
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• file: when used in connection with information on any consumer, means all of the information on that consumer recorded and retained by a consumer reporting agency regardless of how the information is stored. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• freeze: means a notice placed in the consumer credit report of or relating to a consumer, at the request of such consumer and subject to certain exceptions, that prohibits the consumer credit reporting agency from releasing the consumer credit report, the contents of such report or the credit score of such consumer. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• investigative consumer report: means a consumer report or portion thereof in which information on a consumer's character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living is obtained through personal interviews with neighbors, friends, or associates of the consumer reported on or with others with whom he is acquainted or who may have knowledge concerning any such items of information. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• medical debt: means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay any amount whatsoever related to the receipt of health care services, products, or devices provided by a hospital licensed under Article 28 of the public health law, a health care professional authorized under title eight of the education law, or an ambulance service certified under Article 30 of the public health law. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• medical information: means information or records obtained, with the consent of the individual to whom it relates, from licensed physicians or medical practitioners, hospitals, clinics, or other medical or medically related facilities. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, co-operative, association, government or governmental subdivision, agency or other entity. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• proper identification: means information generally deemed sufficient to identify a person. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• protected consumer: means an individual who is under the age of sixteen years at the time a request for the placement of a security freeze is made. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• record: means a compilation of information that (1) identifies a protected consumer; (2) is created by a consumer credit reporting agency solely for the purpose of complying with section three hundred eighty-u of this article; and (3) may not be created or used to consider the protected consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living for any purpose listed in this article. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• representative: means a person who provides to a consumer credit reporting agency sufficient proof of authority to act on behalf of a protected consumer. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• security freeze for a protected consumer: means (1) if a consumer credit reporting agency does not have a file pertaining to a protected consumer, a restriction that: (i) is placed on the protected consumer's record in accordance with section three hundred eighty-u of this article; and (ii) prohibits the consumer credit reporting agency from releasing the protected consumer's record except as provided in this section; or
  
  (2) if a consumer credit reporting agency has a file pertaining to the protected consumer, a restriction that (i) is placed on the protected consumer's consumer credit report in accordance with this section; and (ii) prohibits the consumer credit reporting agency from releasing the protected consumer's consumer credit report or any information derived from the protected consumer's consumer credit report except as provided in this section. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• sufficient proof of authority: means documentation that shows a representative has authority to act on behalf of a protected consumer. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• sufficient proof of identification: means information or documentation that identifies a protected consumer or a representative of a protected consumer. See N.Y. General Business Law 380-A
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.