Federal & State Credit Repair & Compliance

What you will learn

• Explain how the credit system works: the three nationwide credit bureaus, who reports to them, who uses the reports, and credit scores.
• Identify consumer rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act: seeing one's file, getting free reports, disputing, and having information that cannot be verified deleted.
• Apply the federal and Florida requirements to a credit repair service: disclosures, the contract, cancellation and fees.
• Draft the letters and forms in a client's file, and keep the calendar of deadlines.
• Dispute information with the credit bureau and with the furnisher, and follow up on the result.
• Guide an identity theft victim: fraud alerts, security freezes and blocking.
• Distinguish the federal and Florida rules on debt collection, and recognize a violation.
• Explain civil remedies and their deadlines, and when a case must go to a lawyer admitted in the state.
• Recognize the prohibited practices and the ethical obligations of those who offer these services.

Before you start

No prior training in consumer law is needed. It helps to have taken American Law, to be able to read laws and forms in English, to draft formal letters carefully and to know the basics of the virtual classroom (Moodle).

Syllabus

Tap each week to see its topics.

1. Week 1The credit system in the United States

   The three nationwide credit bureaus, who reports to them, who uses the report and how the score is calculated.

2. Week 2The Fair Credit Reporting Act: consumer rights

   Seeing your file, free reports, adverse action notices and how long negative information stays.

3. Week 3The laws that govern the business

   The federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Florida law: the contract, cancellation and the ban on advance fees.

4. Week 4The client: interview, contract and authorization

   The disclosure of rights, the contract, the notice of cancellation and the client's authorization, in the order the law requires.

5. Week 5Requesting the three reports and reading them with the client

   The request to each bureau, certified mail, and what can and cannot be disputed.

6. Week 6The dispute with the credit bureau

   The dispute letter and the 30-day reinvestigation.

7. Week 7Follow-up

   The notice of results, verification, the consumer statement and the dispute with the furnisher. First submission of the practice file.

8. Week 8Identity theft and mixed files

   Fraud alerts, security freezes and blocking of information.

9. Week 9Debt collection

   Federal and Florida law: debt validation, calls, calling hours and the registration of collection agencies.

10. Week 10Remedies

    Damages, deadlines to sue and complaints to the CFPB and the FTC. Second submission of the practice file.

11. Week 11Professional ethics and prohibited practices

    Disputing only what is inaccurate, the promises the law does not allow and the “new credit identity.”

12. Week 12The complete file

    A client's journey, from interview to result. Final assessment.

Materials

• The laws as the core text: the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Credit Repair Organizations Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, with their regulations, and Florida's laws on credit service organizations and consumer collection practices.
• The course readings, letters and forms, prepared by Dr. Humphrey Humberto Pachecker, NAFA's founder.
• The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) free guides on credit repair and identity theft, in Spanish.
• In the virtual classroom: presentations, a sample credit report, quizzes and recordings of every class.

How you are assessed

What counts: attendance and participation, short quizzes on the laws, the practice file of a fictitious client, an ethics case and a final assessment: the complete file of a new client. At the start of the course you receive the syllabus, with the weight of each part.

When you pass the course, you receive a NAFA certificate of completion.