(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Creditor” includes an agent or assignee of a creditor, including an agent engaged in administering or collecting the creditor’s accounts.

(2) “Negative credit information” means information concerning the credit history of a consumer that, because of the consumer’s past delinquencies, late or irregular payment history, insolvency, or any form of default, would reasonably be expected to affect adversely the consumer’s ability to obtain or maintain credit. “Negative credit information” does not include information or credit histories arising from a nonconsumer transaction or any other credit transaction outside the scope of this title, nor does it include inquiries about a consumer’s credit record.

(b) A creditor may submit negative credit information concerning a consumer to a consumer credit reporting agency, only if the creditor notifies the consumer affected. After providing this notice, a creditor may submit additional information to a credit reporting agency respecting the same transaction or extension of credit that gave rise to the original negative credit information without providing additional notice.

(c) The notice shall be in writing and shall be delivered in person or mailed first class, postage prepaid, to the party’s last known address, prior to or within 30 days after the transmission of the negative credit information.

(1) The notice may be part of any notice of default, billing statement, or other correspondence, and may be included as preprinted or standard form language in any of these from the creditor to the consumer.

(2) The notice is sufficient if it is in substantially the following form:

“As required by law, you are hereby notified that a negative credit report reflecting on your credit record may be submitted to a credit reporting agency if you fail to fulfill the terms of your credit obligations.”

(3) The notice may, in the creditor’s discretion, be more specific than the form given in paragraph (2). The notice may include, but shall not be limited to, particular information regarding an account or information respecting the approximate date on which the creditor submitted or intends to submit a negative credit report.

(4) The giving of notice by a creditor as provided in this subdivision does not create any requirement for the creditor to actually submit negative credit information to a consumer credit reporting agency. However, this section shall not be construed to authorize the use of notice as provided in this subdivision in violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C., Sec. 1592 et seq.).

(d) A creditor is liable for failure to provide notice pursuant to this section, unless the creditor establishes, by a preponderance of the evidence, that at the time of that failure to give notice the creditor maintained reasonable procedures to comply with this section.

(Added by Stats. 1992, Ch. 1194, Sec. 11. Effective January 1, 1993. Operative July 1, 1993, by Sec. 13 of Ch. 1194.)