The Fair Credit Reporting Act's inability to create a system where the "accuracy, relevancy, and proper utilization" of your information is protected has resulted in a credit reporting system that is not "fair and equitable" to consumers. But in defense of Congress, the FCRA has been heavily influenced by deep-pocketed industry lobbyists who are motivated to maintain the status quo. In fact, when the FCRA was made into law in 1971, Senator William Proxmire, one of the bill's primary sponsors, felt defeated at what had become of his original intentions for the bill.

Since that time, the FCRA has been amended to become more and more consumer friendly, but there is still a long way to go and as was the case in 1971, those in the financing industry are still very interested in making sure the system continues to work in their favor.

While the credit bureaus are no longer able to record information such as your race or religion, they also are not required to record other personal information that is relevant to your ability to use credit wisely. If you are a model citizen who has worked with the same company for over a decade, has no criminal record and takes home enough income to cover all your expenses and still have money left over for savings, it seems evident that you are more worthy of credit than a career criminal who is a continual burden on the system. But none of the traits that prove you are a responsible person are recorded by the credit reporting agencies . If you and the career criminal have the same types of accounts recorded on your credit reports, your credit scores will be identical.

Also, while you now have the ability to see what information is contained within your credit reports, you do not have the ability to learn any more than the broad stroke concepts of how this information is used to generate your credit score. What impact will paying a long overdue debt have on your credit score? Which credit cards should be paid down first? Should you apply for a new credit card? We have vague, unproven answers for each of these questions, but the exact formula is known only by those who invented the model and is subject to change at any time.

Finally, you have the right to dispute the inaccurate and misleading items in your credit files, but you don't have the right for this process to be easy or effective. Depending on your situation, fixing bad credit can be as easy as submitting an online form or as difficult as tracking down creditors, fighting with collections agencies, and possibly involving legal counsel.

The same organizations who benefit from inaccurate credit reporting are the ones who played such a big role in watering down the Fair Credit Reporting Act and who continue to resist consumer efforts to work towards adding equity to the credit reporting system. It is these organizations you are forced to deal with when working to enforce your right to a fair and accurate credit report.