CONSUMER

You can pull all three reports free every week, dispute anything wrong at no cost, and the bureau has 30 days to investigate. Nobody needs to be paid to do this for you.

No calls before 8am or after 9pm, no threats, no telling your boss, and they have to stop contacting you if you tell them to in writing. Here's the federal rulebook.

Federal law caps your credit card fraud liability at $50 and gives you real leverage over bad merchants. Debit cards play by different rules, and the clock starts the moment the charge hits.

Return policies are a courtesy, not a legal requirement, with one real federal exception. Knowing which is which changes how you shop and how you argue when a return gets denied.

A federal law from 1975 already settled this: a manufacturer can't void your warranty just because you used a third-party part or an independent repair shop, unless they can prove that part caused the problem.

It's not your imagination — some states legally require cancellation to be as easy as sign-up, but there's no federal rule yet forcing every company to comply.