A Study On The Legal System Of Modern American Personal Credit Reporting

Personal credit investigation refers to the activities of collecting,processing and evaluating all kinds of personal credit information and data in order to meet the needs of financial credit transactions.The legal relationship of personal credit investigation is complex,including the legal relationship between the credit agency and the subject,the legal relationship between the credit agency and the information provider and the information user and the subject,and each kind of legal relationship is related to the privacy of the information subject.The interests of credit right are closely related.American personal credit industry developed earlier,personal credit management experience is more mature.In early America,information was exchanged in the form of "blacklist".Later,the market developed by independent third parties to collect customer credit information,that is,personal credit information agencies.After the second World War,the population of the United States increased substantially,the demand for credit consumption was strong,and a cross-regional and national credit consumption market was formed.As a result,individual credit information agencies also broke through regional operations and moved across regions.The 21st century ushered in the era of Internet big data,the personal credit agencies break the traditional business model,expand the scope of information collection,constantly enrich the credit information products.Because the American people’s "privacy" and "credit right" protection consciousness has been strengthened,the personal credit investigation legislation in the United States has been perfected while the personal credit investigation industry is developing,in order to balance the conflict between the personal credit investigation and the protection of the rights and interests of the information subject.In the early years,the circulation of information in the United States was poor,and personal credit information agencies could only operate on a regional scale.With the promulgation of"the Freedom of Information Law",the government departments are given the obligation to open information,break the information blockade,and provide a good information environment and abundant information sources for the credit information service.After the second World War,the business and scale of the personal credit agencies have been expanding,and the disorder of the industry has occurred frequently,and a large number of violations of the rights and interests of the information subject have occurred.In 1970,Congress passed "the Fair Credit Reporting Act".To strictly regulate the collection,handling and use of personal credit information by individual credit information agencies,so as to ensure the information subject’s right to know and the right to dissent,Clarify the main body of supervision and legal responsibility of the personal credit reporting industry."The Fair Credit Reporting Act" is the core law of personal credit reporting in the United States,which has undergone two important revisions."Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996" and "Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003","Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996" expanded the use of personal credit information by the federal government;Standardizing the behavior of information economic person in the market and marketing behavior by using credit data;Strengthening the responsibility of information providers."Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003" aims at a large number of identity theft crimes that occur in society.It is stipulated that personal credit agencies should establish identity theft alarm system and information users should carry out identity verification to prevent identity theft from harming the credit interests of credit information subjects.American personal credit legislation is a perfect legal system based on "the Fair Credit Reporting Act".The legislation has always adhered to the principle of balancing the development of credit investigation industry and the protection of personal rights and interests,among which "the Fair Credit Reporting Law" regulates the business process of individual credit agencies in detail,and the credit reporting legislation has practical operability.Compared with the United States,China’s credit industry started later,and credit legislation was established in recent decades.The personal credit information industry of our country begins with the approval of the first credit company in Shanghai,and then goes through the local credit system,the public credit system of the central bank,the influx of private credit agencies,and so on.There are only 2005 interim measures on the Administration of personal Credit Information Base Database issued by the people’s Bank of China and the State Council’s regulations on the Administration of Credit Information Industry issued by the State Council in 2013.The existing legislation has a low level of legal effect.It is difficult to effectively link up with the existing laws and so on.Based on the experience of American personal credit legislation,China’s personal credit legislation should also build a clear legal system.First of all,the core laws of personal credit investigation should be established,including the Credit reporting Law,the Government Information publicity Act,and the Citizen personal Information Protection Law.Secondly,we should perfect the existing laws related to personal credit,including the General principles of Civil Law,Tort liability Law,Criminal Law and so on.In addition,the personal credit legislation should specify the procedures for collecting,using and disagreeing with the information of the individual credit information agencies,so as to protect the rights and interests of the subject of credit information from being infringed by the standardization of the procedures.