October 26, 2026: Whispers, Rumors, and Your Credit Score

For decades, a company could fill a file on you with rumors, gossip, and outright fabrications, and you'd never know it existed until you were denied a loan, a job, or an apartment. On

October 26, 1970, President Nixon signed Public Law 91-508, bundling two very different measures into one bill. The Fair Credit Reporting Act finally gave consumers the right to see their own credit files and correct errors, a direct response to years of scrutiny following journalist Vance Packard's 1964 exposé "The Naked Society" and Senator William Proxmire's campaign against what he called a "shadow government" of unaccountable credit bureaus.

Bundled into the same law, the Bank Secrecy Act expanded the government's own power to monitor financial transactions. The Retail Credit Company, the industry's largest player, survived the new rules and later renamed itself Equifax.

This is bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.

Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.

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