The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) allows public schools to release directory information to almost anyone. While there isn’t a standard definition of directory information that all schools follow, it can include your child's

It depends. Student disciplinary records are generally protected as part of your education record, but these records may be disclosed without your consent if you committed (or allegedly committed) a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense in violation of school policy, such as

Education records can consist of anything that is directly related to you/your child and maintained by a school or other educational agency. They could include information such as

If you’ve been the victim of identity theft, you could have debts in your name that aren’t yours (and might not even know they exist until a debt collector tries to collect).

Even if you owe a debt, you have rights about when and how a debt collector contacts you.

A data breach is a security violation in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an unauthorized individual. It could be a result of

• hacking
• theft of credit/debit card numbers
• lost, discarded or stolen documents/devices
• mishandled sensitive information

It depends. 

On-time rent payments aren’t automatically included in your credit report, but they may be if your landlord or property management company reports them or you choose to use a rent reporting service.

However, when your missed payments go to collections, they can appear on your credit report and negatively impact your credit score.

Yes, landlords can require a credit check as part of the rental application process. However, they have to follow federal, state, and local regulations that apply to tenant screening.  

Yes. You can request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) weekly. See our guide for more information.

No, an eviction notice by itself won’t show up on your credit report.

There are a couple of other ways that evidence of an eviction could still show up on you credit report, for example, if you

• don’t move out when you receive an eviction notice and the landlord uses the court to evict you/obtains a judgment against you, the judgment will appear in your credit report
• move out before the matter goes to court but still owe rent, the landlord could use a debt collection agency which may report your debt and appear in your credit report