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Consumer Handbook to Credit Protection Laws (Part 2)
...... has to look at all the facts and apply the usual standards of creditworthiness to your particular situation.
Public Assistance. You may not be denied credit just because you receive Social Security or public assistance (such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children). But--as is the case with age--certain information related to this source of income could clearly affect creditworthiness.
So, a creditor may consider such things as:
-- how old your dependents are (because you may lose benefits when they reach a certain age); or
-- whether you will continue to meet the residency requirements for receiving benefits.
This information helps the creditor determine the likelihood that your public assistance income will continue.
Structure Of Social Security NumbersA Social Security Number (SSN) consists of nine digits, commonly written as three fields separated by hyphens: AAA-GG-SSSS. The first three-digit .....
Housing Loans. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act covers your application for a mortgage or home improvement loan. It bans discrimination because of such characteristics as your race, color, gender, or because of the race or national origin of the people in the neighborhood where you live or want to buy your home. Nor may creditors use any appraisal of the value of the property that considers the race of the people in the neighborhood.
In addition, you are entitled to receive a copy of an appraisal report that you paid for in connection with an application for credit, if a you make a written request for the report.
Discrimination Against Women
Both men and women are protected from discrimination based on gender or marital status. But many of the law's provisions were designed to stop particular abuses that generally made if difficult for women to get credit. For example, the idea that single women ignore their debts when they marry, or that a woman's income "doesn't count" because she'll leave work to have children, now is unlawful in credit transactions.
The general rule is that you may not be denied credit just because you are a woman, or just because you are married, single, widowed, divorced, or separated. Here are some important protections:
Gender and Marital Status. Usually, creditors may not ask your gender on an application form (one exception is on a loan to buy or build a home).
You do not have to use Miss, Mrs., or Ms. with your name on a credit application. But, in some cases, a creditor may ask whether you are married, unmarried, or separated (unmarried includes single, divorced, and widowed).
Child-bearing Plans. Creditors may not ask about your birth control practices or whether you plan to have children, and they may not assume anything about those plans.
The Credit System (Part 4)Five Steps To Obtaining A1 Credit: Now that you understand the basics of what credit is, and why it is so ..... Income and Alimony. The creditor must count all of your income, even income from part-time employment.
Child support and alimony payments are a primary source of income for many women. You don't have to disclose these kinds of income, but if you do creditors must count them.
Telephones. Creditors may not consider whether you have a telephone listing in your name because this would discriminate against many married women. (You may be asked if there's a telephone in your home.)
A creditor may consider whether income is steady and reliable, so be prepared to show that you can count on uninterrupted income--particularly if the source is alimony payments or part-time wages.
Your Own Accounts. Many married women used to be turned down when they asked for credit in their own name. Or, a husband had to cosign an account--agree to pay if the wife didn't--even when a woman's own income could easily repay the loan. Single women couldn't get loans because they were thought to be somehow less reliable than other applicants. You now have a fight to your own credit, based on your own credit records and earnings. Your own credit means a separate account or loan in your own name--not a joint account with your husband or a duplicate card on his account. Here are the rules:
-- Creditors may not refuse to open an account just because of your gender or marital status.
-- You can choose to use your first name and maiden name (Mary Smith); your first name and husband's last name (Mary Jones); or a combined last name (Mary Smith-Jones).
Federal Credit LawsThe Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1971: (a) Gives you the right to know what information is held ..... -- If you're creditworthy, a creditor may not ask your husband to cosign your account, with certain exceptions when property rights are involved.
-- Creditors may not ask for information about your husband or ex-husband when you apply for your own credit based on your own income--unless that income is alimony, child support, or separate maintenance payments from your spouse or former spouse.
This last rule, of course, does not apply if your husband is going to use your account or be responsible for paying your debts on the account, or if you live in a community property state. (Community property states are: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.)
Change in Marital Status. Married women have sometimes faced severe hardships when cut off from credit after their husbands died. Single women have had accounts closed when they married, and married women have had accounts closed after a divorce. The law says that creditors may not make you reapply for credit just because you marry or become widowed or divorced. Nor may they close your account or change the terms of your account on these grounds. There must be some sign that your creditworthiness has changed. For example, creditors may ask you to reapply if you relied on your ex-husband's income to get credit in the first place.
Setting up your own account protects you by giving you your own history of how you handle debt, to rely on if your financial situation changes because you are widowed or divorced. If you're getting married and plan to take your husband's surname, write to your creditors and tell them if you want to keep a separate account.
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