Here's a list of important federal government regulations that protect you when you borrow, along with a high-level overview of their purpose:

• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). FCRA is designed to promote accuracy, fairness and privacy of information in the files of credit reporting agencies. The Fair Credit Reporting Act also defines the responsibilities and liabilities of the businesses that both provide data to and receive data from the credit reporting agencies.
• Fair Housing Act. This regulation prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, familial status and handicap in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings and other housing-related transactions.
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA, Reg. B). The ECOA safeguards the availability of credit to all creditworthy applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status or age.
• Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA, Reg. C). The primary purpose of HMDA, or Reg. C, is to require certain lenders to disclose certain data regarding their home lending patterns on specific types of loans.
• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA, Reg. X). This regulation is designed to help consumers receive more and timely information regarding the costs of the settlement process in instances when a loan is secured by a lien on a residential property (i.e., home purchase, home equity loan, etc.).
• Truth in Lending Act (TILA, Reg. Z). This regulation requires disclosures of the costs and terms of using credit.
• The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA, or FACT Act). Among other consumer protections helping to guard against identity theft, the FACT Act (an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act), allows all consumers the right to receive a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once each year.