15 U.S.C. § 1679
Section 1679 · Findings and purposes
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 88 court decisions — leading case 132 S. Ct. 665 - Compucredit Corp. v. Greenwood (2012)
Most recently applied in 2024 IL App (1st) 230765 - Payne v. PNC Bank National Association (July 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Consumers have a vital interest in establishing and maintaining their credit worthiness 1 and credit standing in order to obtain and use credit. As a result, consumers who have experienced credit problems may seek assistance from credit repair organizations which offer to improve the credit standing of such consumers.
(2) Certain advertising and business practices of some companies engaged in the business of credit repair services have worked a financial hardship upon consumers, particularly those of limited economic means and who are inexperienced in credit matters.
The purposes of this subchapter are—
(1) to ensure that prospective buyers of the services of credit repair organizations are provided with the information necessary to make an informed decision regarding the purchase of such services; and
(2) to protect the public from unfair or deceptive advertising and business practices by credit repair organizations.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior title IV of Pub. L. 90–321, May 29, 1968, 82 Stat. 164, as amended by Pub. L. 91–344, July 20, 1970, 84 Stat. 440; Pub. L. 92–321, June 30, 1972, 86 Stat. 382, which was set out as a note under section 1601 of this title, established a bipartisan National Commission on Consumer Finance to study the functioning and structure of the consumer finance industry as well as consumer credit transactions generally. The Commission was to submit a final report by Dec. 31, 1972, and was to cease to exist thereafter.
Effective Date of Subchapter
Section 413 of title IV of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title II, §2451, Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009–462, provided that: “This title [enacting this subchapter] shall apply after the end of the 6-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of the Credit Repair Organizations Act [Sept. 30, 1996], except with respect to contracts entered into by a credit repair organization before the end of such period.”