ACA scores huge legislative victory!

A groundbreaking legislative victory reached the finish line on Thursday, December 4, 2003, when President Bush signed into law the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. This legislation permanently reauthorizes the expiring provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, preserving uniform, national standards on credit reporting.

ACA lobbied hard for the reauthorization of the FCRA, which was set to expire on January 1, 2004, and successfully added an amendment to the Senate bill to assist debt collectors in their role as data furnishers. This amendment survived the conference process, winning the support of key House and Senate conferees, and is in the new law.

ACA’s amendment relieves data furnishers of the liability burden when reporting the date of delinquency to a consumer-reporting agency, as long as the furnisher follows reasonable procedures to obtain the accurate date. This provision in the new FCRA law will assist all data furnishers.

This historic legislative victory comes just one year after the reorganization of ACA’s Government Affairs Department, and the hire of new in-house professionals and contract lobbyists for the Association.