All posts tagged Legal Rights

Free Annual Credit Report

by waybeyondthebeltway on December 31, 2008 in Americans Abroad with 6 Comments

As I wrote last year, regular checks of your credit report are an important as aspect of fiscal management and under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACT Act”) all Americans have a legal right to a free credit report annually.

The FACT Act requires the big three credit reporting agencies–Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide consumers with one free credit report per year. The official website through which to request these free yearly credit reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. However, as I started the annual check of my credit this month, I was surprised to discover that clicking on the AnnualCreditReport.com link from abroad still returns the following error message:

The AnnualCreditReport.com website is only accessible through ISPs (Internet Service Providers)

located within the United States and its territories.

It is worth reiterating that the FACT Act covers all Americans, but the 4-6 million+ Americans living abroad and required by U.S. law to pay U.S. taxes cannot access AnnualCreditReport.com. Thus Americans abroad remain unable to exercise their legal right to a free annual credit report via AnnualCreditReport.com and must instead contact each of the big three by other means to get the free annul credit report to which they are entitled. The credit reporting agencies should remedy this defect and, if not, Congress should act.

Overseas Vote Foundation Better than Ever

by waybeyondthebeltway on November 3, 2007 in Americans Abroad, Congress & Elections, General Interest, Government, Politics, Presidency, Representation, Voting, Washington with 3 Comments

The best resource for America’s overseas voters just got better.

On October 25, the Overseas Vote Foundation officially launched its new site. Government Computer News wrote about the revamped site and the Army Times also covered the launch.

This visually stunning and supremely user friendly site is a one-stop shop for Americans abroad, both military and civilian, to register to vote, find their election officials and get answers to frequently asked questions. What’s more, OVF provides links to nonpartisan, independent organizations that provide information about the candidates and the issues, e.g. Project Vote Smart, the trusted and invaluable source of information about candidates and elected officials, including: biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings.

The site also contains a new State-specific Voter Information Directory that gives:

  • state-by-state filing deadlines

  • options for how to send and receive voting information

  • state-level election official contact information

Young voters, 18-30, living outside the U.S. can join the Youth Vote Overseas (“YVO”) – Facebook Group. According to OVF, “YVO is a place for young voters abroad to exchange information, ideas and links about U.S. elections.”

As always, OVF’s site does not store confidential personal information.

OVF’s cutting-edge resources dedicated to overseas voter registration are changing the focus of the debate on voting from abroad. Until now, we were talking about overcoming the bureaucratic hurdles and pitfalls of the old, paper-based registration and absentee ballot request process. Today we can start focusing on increasing voter turn-out among Americans abroad, and in turn help to inform and shape the debate in Washington.

Overseas absentee ballots

by waybeyondthebeltway on October 6, 2007 in Americans Abroad, Politics, Representation, Voting, Washington with No comments

On September 24, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) released its 2006 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) Report, a collection of data from all 50 states about UOCAVA voting. The report is available at www.eac.gov. I was distressed, but not surprised to read that voter turnout among Uniformed and Overseas Citizens remains low.

What’s worse is the fact that those of us who do jump through the hoops necessary to exercise this most essential right, the very cornerstone of democracy, may not have our votes counted at all. The International Herald Tribune‘s Brian Knowlton writes that only 1/3 of the nearly one million absentee ballots requested for the 2006 midterm election were cast or counted. Shockingly, 70% of ballots are returned as undeliverable.

The EAC’s report cites serious deficiencies in the collection an reporting of election data by both state and local offices, indeed some states such as Alabama and Tennessee provided almost no data. Incredibly, the former Alabama official in charge of collecting this data pursuant to the 2002 Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”) simply didn’t do the job.

With this sort of intransigence — one hopes it is just a few states — we are fortunate to have the Overseas Vote Foundation which makes registering to vote and requesting an absentee ballot a simple 5-10 minute procedure during which you are asked questions that lead you through the particular requirements for registering in your state.

Stars and Stripes also reported on the story.

Free yearly credit report under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act

by waybeyondthebeltway on July 11, 2007 in General Interest with 4 Comments

Anyone who filed their federal tax return last month knows the hassle of having to pay taxes abroad and back home — a burden that few other countries impose on their citizenry abroad. A burden complicated by the fact that the leading online tax preparation software, TurboTax, does not allow payment using foreign credit cards. On the subject of credit cards, regular checks of your credit report are an important as aspect of fiscal management. And all Americans have a legal right to a free credit report once a year.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACT Act”) requires the big three credit reporting agencies–Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide consumers with one free credit report per year. According to Consumer Reports‘ “‘Free’ credit reports: Beware of add-ons“, the official website to distribute these free yearly credit reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. However, clicking on the link from abroad returns the following error message:

The AnnualCreditReport.com website is only accessible through ISPs (Internet Service Providers) located within the United States and its territories.

Simple errors can impact your credit rating so you should be regularly check your credit report. The United States Senate Federal Credit Union has a full report on access to free credit reports and offers a list of common credit report mistakes that can impact your credit rating. Look out for simple mistakes such as misspelled names, incorrect Social Security numbers, inaccurate birth dates and information about spouses, out-of-date addresses, account status, loan listing errors, and/or the absence of records that indicate credit-worthiness.

The FACT Act, covers all American citizens and taxpayers, but the 4 million+ Americans living abroad and required by U.S. law to file and pay U.S. taxes, cannot access AnnualCreditReport.com. Thus Americans abroad are unable to exercise their legal right to a free annual credit report. The credit bureaues shouls remedy this defect immediately, and if not Congress should act.