15 U.S. Code § 1681n - Civil liability for willful noncompliance

in the case of any successful action to enforce any liability under this section, the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney’s fees as determined by the court.

Any person who obtains a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses or knowingly without a permissible purpose shall be liable to the consumer reporting agency for actual damages sustained by the consumer reporting agency or $1,000, whichever is greater.

Upon a finding by the court that an unsuccessful pleading, motion, or other paper filed in connection with an action under this section was filed in bad faith or for purposes of harassment, the court shall award to the prevailing party attorney’s fees reasonable in relation to the work expended in responding to the pleading, motion, or other paper.

For the purposes of this section, any person who printed an expiration date on any receipt provided to a December 4, 2004 , and June 3, 2008 , but otherwise complied with the requirements of section 1681c(g) of this title for such receipt shall not be in willful noncompliance with section 1681c(g) of this title by reason of printing such expiration date on the receipt.

2008—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 110–241 added subsec. (d).

1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–208, § 2412(a), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and in introductory provisions substituted “AnyPub. L. 104–208, § 2412(b), amended par. (1) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows: “any actual damages sustained by thePub. L. 104–208, § 2412(c), added subsec. (b).

Amendment by Pub. L. 104–208 effective 365 days after Sept. 30, 1996 , with special rule for early compliance, see section 2420 of Pub. L. 104–208, set out as a note under section 1681a of this title.

Section effective upon the expiration of one hundred and eighty days following Oct. 26, 1970 , see section 504(d) of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 91–508, set out as a note under section 1681 of this title.

“Nothing in this section, the amendments made by this section, or any other provision of this Act [see Short Title of 2003 Amendment note set out under section 1601 of this title] shall be construed to affect any liability under section 616 or 617 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681n, 1681o) that existed on the day before the date of enactment of this Act [ Dec. 4, 2003 ].”

The Fair and Accurate Pub. L. 108–159, see Short Title of 2003 Amendment note set out under section 1601 of this title] was enacted into law in 2003 and 1 of the purposes of such Act is to prevent criminals from obtaining access to “(2)

As part of that law, the Congress enacted a requirement, through an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act [15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.], that no “(3)

Almost immediately after the deadline for compliance passed, hundreds of lawsuits were filed alleging that the failure to remove the expiration date was a willful violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act even where the “(5)

Experts in the field agree that proper truncation of the card number, by itself as required by the amendment made by the Fair and Accurate “(7)

Despite repeatedly being denied class certification, the continued appealing and filing of these lawsuits represents a significant burden on the hundreds of companies that have been sued and could well raise prices to consumer protection benefit.

The purpose of this Act [amending this section and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 1601 of this title] is to ensure that Retroactive Effect of 2008 Amendment

“The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall apply to any action, other than an action which has become final, that is brought for a violation of [section] 605(g) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act [15 U.S.C. 1681c(g)] to which such amendment applies without regard to whether such action is brought before or after the date of the enactment of this Act [ June 3, 2008 ].”