The Federal Trade Commission this week announced its first enforcement action under Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under a proposed settlement Irvine, CA-based debt collection agency, Performance Capital Management, will be fined $2 million for a number of serious violations. Section 623  was added by Congress in the 1996 FCRA amendments to increase the accuracy of consumer reports by imposing specific duties upon any entity that furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency. The FTC alleges that PCM provided credit bureaus with inaccurate delinquency dates for its accounts. Section 623 defines the delinquency date for an account as the month and year that an account first became delinquent. This date is used by credit bureaus to measure the seven-year period that negative credit information may be reported under the FCRA. The FTC alleges PCM systematically reported accounts with delinquency dates that were more recent than the actual date of delinquency, ignored consumer disputes referred by credit bureaus, and failed to notify credit bureaus when consumers disputed collection accounts with PCM. For more information visit www.ftc.gov.