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The Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission today announced the following action.

Consent agreements given final approval: Following a public comment period, the Commission has made final a consent agreement with the following entity. The Commission action makes the consent order binding on the respondent.

• The order with Bruno's, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, settles FTC charges that this regional grocery chain failed to tell job applicants denied employment (1) when information in the applicants' credit records played a role in the denials and (2) the name and address of the firm that provided the credit-history information, in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The order requires Bruno's to comply with the provisions of the FCRA requiring, when consumers are denied credit, insurance or a job based in whole or in part on information in their credit reports, that the denying company notify the consumers that such reports played a role in the denials and the name and address of the consumer reporting agency that supplied the reports. Within 30 days thereafter, the consumers may contact the credit reporting agency to obtain a free copy of their credit reports, check for errors and, if any are found, request that the credit reporting agency reinvestigate and correct them. (See May 13, 1997 news release for more details regarding this case; Docket No. C-3760; Commission vote on July 29 to issue the order as final was 5-0.) Staff contact is Tom Carter, FTC Dallas Regional Office, 214-979-9350.

Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 202-326-2502. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710.