Do You Have Any Right To Obtain A Copy Of Your Credit Report?
You've made an application for a mortgage loan. You've been advised of your credit scores and are surprised to learn that they are lower than you expected. And, now you want answers. You ask your loan consultant for a copy of your credit report, but are refused. What, if anything can you do?
All financial institutions, including mortgage brokers, have specific disclosure obligations to their clients involved in any residential mortgage loan application. California law requires the disclosure of credit scores used in connection with an application for a residential mortgage loan as well as the “key factors” that adversely affected your score. California Civil Code § 1785.20.2.
What borrowers sometimes misunderstand is that they are not entitled to a complete copy of their credit report. The California credit score disclosure law does not require any person to do any of the following:
- Explain the information provided under the law;
- Disclose any information other than a credit score or key factor;
- Disclose any credit score or related information obtained by the user after the loan has closed;
- Provide more than one disclosure per loan transaction; or
- Provide the disclosure required by law when another person has made the disclosure to the consumer for that loan transaction (i.e., a broker need not give the disclosure if the lender does).
So, the next time you make an application for a residential mortgage, expect to receive a copy of your credit scores but not a complete copy of your credit report. The reason for this is simple: prevention of identity theft. By providing you with only your credit scores and key factors, the privacy of your credit information is maintained thereby lessening the chances that your report will fall into the hands of identity thieves.
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