Opinion ID: 2191418
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: III-B-2 The Requirement of Written Reports.

Text: Plaintiffs contend that the Maine Act's mandate that investigative consumer reports be in writing cannot stand because the Federal Act permits such reports to be oral. Plaintiffs argue that the Federal Act reveals a federal concern that consumer reporting proceed rapidly and efficiently, and this federal interest tends to be impaired by an insistence on communication in writing. The argument lacks cogency. The requirement of writing in Section 1319(2) of the Maine Act advances a purpose of both the Federal and Maine Acts, to assure the accuracy of reported information by the particular means of affording consumers access to the information. The stricter Maine requirement that the information be in writing results in a documentation and permanent recordation of the information communicated in a particular transaction. It thus makes it more accessible to consumers and reduces the likelihood that particular information may be omitted from reports communicated in the future. Balanced against these benefits, any delay caused in the communication of information by the necessity of putting it in writing must be taken to be an incidental divergence of regulation insufficient to bring federal preemption into play. See Credit Data of Arizona v. State of Arizona, supra .