The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of every "consumer reporting agency" (CRA). Most CRAs are credit bureaus that gather and sell information about you -- such as if you pay your bills on time or have filed bankruptcy -- to creditors, employers, landlords, and other businesses. You can find the complete text of the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. 1681-1681u, at the Federal Trade Commission's web site (http://www.ftc.gov). The FCRA gives you specific rights, as outlined below. You may have additional rights under state law. You may contact a state or local consumer protection agency or a state attorney general to learn those rights.

You must be told if information in your file has been used against you. Anyone who uses information from a CRA to take action against you -- such as denying an application for credit, insurance, or employment -- must tell you, and give you the name, address, and phone number of the CRA that provided the consumer report.

You can find out what is in your file. At your request, a CRA must give you the information in your file, and a list of everyone who has requested it recently. There is no charge for the report if a person has taken action against you because of information supplied by the CRA, if you request the report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. You also are entitled to one free report every twelve months upon request if you certify that (1) you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days, (2) you are on welfare, or (3) your report is inaccurate due to fraud. Otherwise, a CRA may charge you up to eight dollars.

You can dispute inaccurate information with the CRA. If you tell a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information, the CRA must investigate the items (usually within 30 days) by presenting to its information source all relevant evidence you submit, unless your dispute is frivolous. The source must review your evidence and report its findings to the CRA. (The source also must advise national CRAs -- to which it has provided the data -- of any error.) The CRA must give you a written report of the investigation and a copy of your report if the investigation results in any change. If the CRA's investigation does not resolve the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file. The CRA must normally include a summary of your statement in future reports. If an item is deleted or a dispute statement is filed, you may ask that anyone who has recently received your report be notified of the change.

Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted. A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information from its files, usually within 30 days after you dispute it. However, the CRA is not required to remove accurate data from your file unless it is outdated (as described below) or cannot be verified. If your dispute results in any change to your report, the CRA cannot reinsert into your file a disputed item unless the information source verifies its accuracy and completeness. In addition, the CRA must give you a written notice telling you it has reinserted the item. The notice must include the name, address and phone number of the information source.

You can dispute inaccurate items with the source of the information. If you tell anyone -- such as a creditor who reports to a CRA -- that you dispute an item, they may not then report the information to a CRA without including a notice of your dispute. In addition, once you've notified the source of the error in writing, it may not continue to report the information if it is, in fact, an error.

Outdated information may not be reported. In most cases, a CRA may not report negative information that is more than seven years old; ten years for bankruptcies.

Access to your file is limited. A CRA may provide information about you only to people with a need recognized by the FCRA -- usually to consider an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord, or other business.

Your consent is required for reports that are provided to employers, or reports that contain medical information. A CRA may not give out information about you to your employer, or prospective employer, without your written consent. A CRA may not report medical information about you to creditors, insurers, or employers without your permission.

You may choose to exclude your name from CRA lists for unsolicited credit and insurance offers. Creditors and insurers may use file information as the basis for sending you unsolicited offers of credit or insurance. Such offers must include a toll-free phone number for you to call if you want your name and address removed from future lists. If you call, you must be kept off the lists for two years. If you request, complete, and return the CRA form provided for this purpose, you must be taken off the lists indefinitely.

You may seek damages from violators. If a CRA, a user or (in some cases) a provider of CRA data, violates the FCRA, you may sue them in state or federal court.

Bankruptcy is the legal method for a debtor to "discharge" or relieve himself of the debts that he owes. While no debtor is guaranteed a total discharge of his debt, most debtors who file for bankruptcy are given such relief. One of the primary purposes of the bankruptcy act is to relieve the honest debtor from the weight of oppressive indebtedness and to provide the debtor with a fresh start.

In a typical Chapter 7 bankruptcy (also known as liquidation), a trustee collects the nonexempt property of the debtor, converts the property to cash, and distributes the cash to the creditors. In contrast, Chapters 11, 12, and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code contemplate debtor rehabilitation. In a rehabilitation case, creditors look to future earnings of the debtor, not to the current property of the debtor. Under rehabilitation, a debtor will generally retain his assets and property, while making payments to creditors pursuant to a court approved plan.

The answer is that it depends. If you had personally secured the loans of the corporation and the corporation files for bankruptcy protection, then you are now liable for the outstanding debts. If you fail to pay the debts in your personal capacity, then your credit will be adversely effected. Alternatively, if the debts of the corporation were debts secured or obtained upon the credit of the corporation alone, then your personal credit will not be effected.

No. When a consumer buys a product with credit, the consumer is legally binding himself to pay. If withholding of payment is not justified, and the consumer decides not to pay, legal action can be taken against him. A credit card transaction creates a legally enforceable contract between the merchant and the consumer.

Before services are ever withheld for non-payment, it is important to determine whether or not the services or goods that were being provided conformed to the original contract. If services are withheld for non-payment, when non-payment was justified, then you are actually breaching the contract. Further, you will be held liable for the breach. Alternatively, if you can determine that you have performed the services or goods as they were originally contracted, then withholding payment for failure to pay will never lead to charges for failure to deliver services or goods as promised. Before you ever decide to stop performance of a contract, it is prudent to have an attorney review the facts to determine who the breaching party really is. Otherwise, you may breach a contract without knowing it, and be liable for the contract price, plus any damages that result as a consequence of the breach.

Yes. Assuming that the amount being sued for falls within the jurisdictional limits of the court. Every Small Claims Court has a limit concerning the amount of money that can be litigated within the court. The amount varies from state to state. Usually the amount is somewhere between 2 thousand to 5 thousand dollars. If the amount that you are suing for is larger than the limit, the court will not hear your case. You then must take your case to the Municipal Court.