As previously reported, bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 7297) and U.S. Senate (S. 3502) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to curtail the practice of trigger leads with mortgage loans. Recently, a diverse group sent a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs expressing support for the bills.… Continue Reading
FCRA
Revised Trigger Leads Bill Introduced in U.S. House of Representatives
As previously reported, in 2023 bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 4198) and the U.S. Senate (S. 3502) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to curtail the practice of trigger leads with mortgage loans. While the goals of the bills are the same, the language of the bills differ.… Continue Reading
CFPB issues two new FCRA advisory opinions on background screening reports and disclosure of credit files to consumers
On January 11, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued two new advisory opinions: Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening and Fair Credit Reporting; File Disclosure. The advisory opinions are part of the CFPB’s ongoing efforts to clean up what the CFPB describes in its press release as allegedly “sloppy” credit reporting practices and ensure credit report accuracy and transparency to consumers.… Continue Reading
CFPB files amicus briefs in FDCPA case and also files amicus brief in FCRA case jointly with FTC
The CFPB recently filed two amicus briefs, one in a First Circuit case involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the other, which was filed jointly with the Federal Trade Commission, in a Fourth Circuit case involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
FDCPA. The FDCPA case is Carrasquillo v.… Continue Reading
CFPB enters into consent order with third-party collector of medical debts to resolve alleged FCRA and FDCPA violations
The CFPB announced last week that it has entered into a consent order with Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc. (Commonwealth), a third-party debt collection company that collects past-due medical debts and furnishes information about consumers to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), to resolve Commonwealth’s alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). … Continue Reading
Trade groups urge CFPB to issue ANPR on FCRA rulemaking
In September 2023, the CFPB announced that it was launching a Fair Credit Reporting Act rulemaking and issued an outline of the proposals it is considering in preparation for convening a Small Business Advisory Review Panel. A group of consumer financial industry trade groups recently sent a letter to Director Chopra urging the CFPB to issue an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) before it publishes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.… Continue Reading
Eleventh Circuit rules consumers can recover statutory damages for willful FCRA violations without proving actual damages
Joining every other circuit to address the same issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently ruled that a consumer does not have to prove actual damages to recover statutory damages for willful violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
In Omar Santos, et al. v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.… Continue Reading
FTC and CFPB submit amicus brief in Second Circuit on FCRA requirement for furnisher to conduct reasonable investigation of disputed information
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) have filed a joint amicus brief in which they urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the decision of a New York federal court in Suluki v. Credit One Bank, NA. The agencies argue that the district court disregarded the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (“FCRA”) requirement that a furnisher delete disputed information that it cannot verify. … Continue Reading
CFPB Launches FCRA Rulemaking to Eliminate Creditor Use of Medical Debt
On September 21, 2023, with limited time to digest the comments received by September 11, 2023 from the request for information regarding medical payment products, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) started the FCRA rulemaking process. The press release describes a “rulemaking process to remove medical bills from Americans’ credit reports.”… Continue Reading
FTC Settles With Background Report Companies for FCRA Violations and Deceptive Acts
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) on September 11, 2023, settled a claim against a group of affiliated entities operating a background reporting business, Instant Checkmate, LLC, TruthFinder, LLC, The Control Group Media Company, LLC, Intelicare Direct, LLC, and PubRec LLC (“background report companies” or “companies”) for alleged misrepresentations that deceived consumers about whether they had criminal records and for operating as a consumer reporting agency without following the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).… Continue Reading