Consumer Credit Protection Act

The Consumer Credit Protection Act was put in place in 1972. It has been continually added to and amended since that start. Within the consumer credit protection act is the fair credit reporting act.

While the CCPA is directed at protecting consumers and helping them with their credit, the fair credit reporting act is directed at the lenders and agencies that handle the information about the consumer.

chapters of the consumer credit protection act

There are several sub-chapters,

the 1st being commonly known as the truth in lending act and officially known as the consumer credit cost disclosure.


The consumer credit cost disclosure was designed to make the consumer aware of the cost of obtaining credit.

It requires lenders who are in business to regularly make loans available to their customers to include disclosures in clearly understandable language that make the terms of that loan known.

This includes all finance charges, fees, length of agreement and full cost at the end of the payment schedule.

The 2nd sub-chapter in the consumer credit protection act are the restrictions on wage garnishments. This chapter additionally protects the person from losing their job due to the wage garnishment.

Wage garnishment happens when either the government or a court order determines that a debt must be repaid.

This act puts restrictions on amounts that can be taken from one's paycheck.

Usually a percentage according to the situation is used to calculate an amount that can be garnished in each paycheck.

The employer must withhold that amount and send it to the proper identity.

There is a sub-chapter 2a that is named credit repair organizations act.

This act was put in place to put boundaries on credit repair organizations that formerly were treating consumers in an unfair way.

Again helping consumers to make informed decisions about the company they may be considering to do business with and protecting from scams.

The 3rd sub-chapter is credit reporting agencies.

Our banking system is largely dependent on credit so putting requirements on the agencies that report this information to do so accurately is needed.

It was determined that inaccurate credit reports impair the efficiency of the banking system and undermine the consumer's confidence in that system.

The laws pertaining to what information can be on your credit report (and what cannot) and how long it can stay there were put in place with this chapter of the act.

The next sub-chapter in the consumer credit protection act is the equal credit opportunity act.

As one might expect this act makes it unlawful to discriminate against another in extending credit due to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age (providing they have the capacity).

Additionally you can not discriminate against a person because all their income is derived from public sources.

The 5th sub-chapter in this act is the fair debt collection practices act.

It was put in place to put boundaries on just how far a debt collector can go to try and collect that debt.

There are still many debt collectors that break the law concerning this act. Many times they are not taught the laws that govern them by those who have employed them.

Knowing the laws when you are in the situation of being behind on debt and collectors hounding you can greatly help this stressful situation.

The last sub-chapter in the consumer credit protection act is concerned with Electronic fund transfers.

This one is important because it deals with all the ways money is transferred electronically.

It puts requirements in place that the institutions that transfer the money need to follow.

It places terms and conditions on the transfers, places terms on error resolution, consumer liability and the liability of the financial institution.

When this act was put in place it was found that the rights and liabilities of both the consumer and the financial institution were unclear and undefined. Hence this regulation.

consumer credit protection act to legal credit restoration

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