Minnesota has its own credit reporting law

Nearly everything written about credit reports is about the federal statute. Minnesota has its own chapter, and if you live here it applies to you alongside the FCRA.

What is in it

Minnesota Statutes chapter 13C — “Access to Consumer Reports” — contains:

Section	Subject
13C.001	Definitions
13C.01	Access to consumer reports
13C.016	Consumer security freeze
13C.017	Security freeze; changes to information
13C.018	Security freeze; not applicable to certain agencies
13C.019	Security freeze; exempt entities
13C.02	Disclosure of use of consumer reports for employment purposes
13C.03	Notice of adverse action
13C.04	Enforcement; remedies
13C.10	Protected persons security freeze

Freezes, employment disclosure, adverse action, and enforcement. It is not a duplicate of the FCRA; it is a layer on top of it.

The right nobody knows about

Minn. Stat. § 13C.01, subd. 1(a), entitles a consumer who is the subject of a consumer report to

request and receive by mail, for a charge not to exceed $3, a copy of the consumer report once in any 12-month period.

A free copy is also available where the consumer satisfies the federal procedures — so in practice the federal entitlement usually gets you there without the $3.

Subdivision 1(b) is the interesting one:

A consumer who exercises the right to dispute and correct errors is entitled, after doing so, to request and receive by mail, without charge, a copy of the consumer report in order to confirm that the consumer report was corrected.

A free copy, after a correction, for the specific purpose of confirming the correction was made.

That is not in the federal statute, and it addresses a real gap. The FCRA requires a revised report with the results notice under § 1681i(a)(6)(B)(ii), but nothing federal gives you a free look later to confirm the fix held. Corrections that quietly reverse are a documented problem — see when a deleted item comes back.

If you are in Minnesota and you have just had something corrected, this is the provision to use, and using it costs nothing.

How the chapter is enforced

Minn. Stat. § 13C.04 in full:

This chapter may be enforced by the attorney general or the county attorney pursuant to section 8.31 or 325F.70 and the public and private remedies available under those sections apply to this chapter.

Two things follow. The Attorney General and county attorneys may enforce it. And the public and private remedies under those sections apply — § 8.31 being Minnesota’s private attorney general provision.

What that means for any particular person is a legal question, and not one this site answers. What is worth knowing is that the chapter is not merely advisory.

Where it matters most

Three places, each with its own article:

• Security freezes. Minnesota’s own freeze provisions, including for children. See Minnesota’s security freeze rules.
• Employment reports. Section 13C.02 requires things the federal statute does not. See what Minnesota adds to a background check.
• Adverse action. Section 13C.03 sits alongside the federal notice under § 1681m. See when you are turned down.

The general point

State law can add to federal consumer protections, and often does. If you have read only about the FCRA, you have read about part of what applies to you.

This site currently covers Minnesota because that is where it operates. If you are elsewhere, your state very likely has an analogous chapter — and it is worth finding, because nobody will mention it.

We do not tell you whether any of these provisions was violated or what remedy might follow. This page tells you the chapter exists, what is in it, and which section contains the free-copy-after-correction right that almost nobody uses.