CFPB, Federal Agencies, State Agencies, and Attorneys General
American Banker has reported that beginning in the next few weeks, Equifax will add a business industry code for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) transactions to allow such transactions to appear on credit reports. It also reported that TransUnion is working on its own BNPL credit reporting service.
The growth in consumer use of BNPL is leading to more scrutiny of the product. … Continue Reading
The CFPB’s new annual report of credit and consumer reporting complaints, required by Section 611(e) of the FCRA, criticizes the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs) for allegedly failing to meet their FCRA obligations to it and for engaging in practices that have led to a significant increase in the volume of consumer complaints it received about the NCRAs.… Continue Reading
The CFPB has issued an advisory opinion that affirms that the use of “name-only matching” by consumer reporting agencies, including tenant and employment screening companies, does not satisfy the FCRA requirement for a CRA ”to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the [consumer] report relates.” … Continue Reading
The CFPB recently published a new report, “Disputes on Consumer Credit Reports.” Using data on auto loan, student loan, general purpose credit card, and retail card accounts opened between 2012 and 2019, the report looks at the demographic characteristics of disputers and the outcomes for accounts with dispute flags. … Continue Reading
The CFPB, FTC, and the North Carolina Department of Justice filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit urging it to reverse a district court decision that found Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act made a consumer reporting agency immune from FCRA claims.
In Henderson v.… Continue Reading
The National Defense Authorization Act as passed by the House and now headed to the Senate includes amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act dealing with the reporting of adverse information on servicemembers by consumer reporting agencies.
The amendments add the defined terms “uniformed consumer” and “deployed uniformed consumer” to the FCRA. … Continue Reading
We look at the practices found to be unlawful by CFPB examiners in these markets, discuss what the findings signal for future scrutiny of these markets by the “new CFPB”, and share practical takeaways for companies operating in these markets. Issues highlighted in our conversation include the CFPB’s findings regarding “unreliable furnishers,” furnisher handling of “frivolous or irrelevant” disputes, interest accrual on debts in collection, and mortgage servicer consideration of private mortgage insurance termination dates when estimating disbursements in an annual escrow analysis.… Continue Reading
After reviewing the facts and holding in Ramirez, we discuss how the decision clarifies the concrete harm requirement established by SCOTUS’s Spokeo decision, Ramirez’s implications for class action and individual lawsuits alleging violations of federal consumer financial protection laws, and the potential impact on state court litigation.
Chris Willis, Co-Chair of Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, hosts the conversation, joined by Dan McKenna, Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Litigation Group.… Continue Reading
A Florida federal district court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a borrower alleging FCRA violations by Clarity Services, Inc. (Clarity), the consumer reporting agency that provided the borrower’s consumer report to her lender. In dismissing the plaintiff’s FCRA claims, the district court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the FCRA requires a consumer reporting agency, before providing a consumer report, to verify the legitimacy of the business of the report’s end user.… Continue Reading
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week in TransUnion, LLC. v. Ramirez that only class members who were concretely harmed by TransUnion’s FCRA violation had Article III standing to seek damages.
In the case, Sergio Ramirez, the named plaintiff, alleged that he suffered difficulty in obtaining credit and other harm after an automobile dealer received a credit report from TransUnion indicating that his name matched a name found on the list of terrorists and narcotics traffickers with whom U.S.… Continue Reading
