56:11-37. Imposition of charge on consumer; exceptions

10. a. Except as provided in subsections b., c., d. and e. of this section, a consumer reporting agency may impose a reasonable charge on a consumer for:

(1) making a disclosure to the consumer pursuant to section 7 of this act if the request is the second or subsequent request in a 12-month period of time and is not made pursuant to subsection b. of this section; the charge for this disclosure shall not exceed $8 and shall be indicated to the consumer before making the disclosure;

(2) furnishing to a person designated by the consumer pursuant to subsection k. of section 9 of this act a statement, codification, or summary filed or developed under subsection i. or j. of section 9 of this act, after notification of the consumer under subsection f. of section 9 of this act with respect to the reinvestigation; this charge shall not exceed the charge that the agency would impose on each designated recipient for a consumer report and shall be indicated to the consumer before furnishing this information.

b. Each consumer reporting agency that maintains a file on a consumer shall make all disclosures required pursuant to section 7 of this act without charge to the consumer if, not later than 60 days after receipt by the consumer of a notification of an adverse action or notification from a debt collection agency affiliated with the consumer reporting agency stating that the consumer's credit rating may be or has been adversely affected, the consumer makes a request under section 7 of this act.

c. Upon the request of the consumer, a consumer reporting agency shall make all disclosures required pursuant to section 7 of this act once during any 12-month period without charge to the consumer.

d. A consumer reporting agency shall not impose any charge on a consumer for providing any notification required by this act, including but not limited to, the notification required pursuant to subsection k. of section 9 of this act following deletion of information from a consumer's file pursuant to section 9 of this act, or making any disclosure required by this act, except as authorized by subsection a. of this section.

e. Upon request of the consumer, a consumer reporting agency shall make all disclosures required pursuant to section 7 of this act once during any 12-month period without charge to that consumer if the consumer certifies in writing that the consumer:

(1) is unemployed and intends to apply for employment in the 60-day period beginning on the date on which certification is made;

(2) is a recipient of assistance under the Work First New Jersey Program;

(3) has reason to believe that the file on the consumer at the agency contains inaccurate information due to fraud; or

(4) has been a victim of a violation of N.J.S.2C:21-1, section 1 of P.L.1983, c.565 (2C:21-2.1) or N.J.S.2C:21-17 and the court has ordered the deletion of those items of information that were the result of the unlawful use of the victim's personal identifying information.

L.1997,c.172,s.10; amended 2003, c.184, s.9.