The Equifax data breach compromised personal information for some 143 million Americans, but there are still two other major credit bureaus — Experian and TransUnion — whose digital vaults are filled with the same sensitive info. New York’s top prosecutor is now asking these companies to explain how they won’t be the next source of a massive consumer data leak. [More]
credit reporting agencies
Credit Reports Soon Won’t Include Some Tax Lien, Civil Judgment Data
By 3.13.17 — Updated: 3.15.17
Millions of consumers could soon see their FICO credit scores increase as the three credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — take another step to overhaul their systems by excluding certain negative information related to tax liens and civil judgments from credit reports. [More]
How Much Investigating Should A Credit Bureau Do When Someone Disputes A Debt?
By 4.18.16
The nation’s three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — are also three of the four most-complained-about companies to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with 77% of those complaints involving incorrect information on consumers’ credit reports. But when a consumer attempts to dispute a debt on their report, what legal obligation do these agencies have to actually investigate? [More]
CarHop Must Pay $6.4 Million In Penalties For Jeopardizing Consumers’ Credit With Inaccurate Reports
By 12.17.15
CarHop, one of the country’s largest “buy-here, pay-here” auto dealers, promotes itself as a company that offers fast approval for “just about anyone, despite bad or no credit.” While the company prides itself on the ability to help consumers, federal regulators say the dealer and its financing arm often did more harm than good when it came to reporting on customers’ credit behavior. To that end, CarHop must pay $6.4 million in penalties for providing damaging, inaccurate consumer information to credit reporting agencies (CRAs). [More]
Bill Would Allow Consumers To Sue When Bankrupt Debt Isn’t Removed From Credit Reports
By 7.28.15
Under federal law, when someone erases a debt in bankruptcy, their bank is required to update their credit reports to indicate the debt is no longer owed. To ensure this happens, legislators have introduced a new bill that would give credit card borrowers with inaccurate credit reports the power to sue their bank or a third-party debt buyer for damages if they continue to send so-called zombie debt to credit reporting agencies. [More]
Senator Pushes For System To Notify Consumers ‘The Moment Access To Their Credit Is Requested’
By 6.22.15
It seems like every day, another retailer, service provider, or government agency falls victim to a data breach, and if a hacker uses that stolen info to open up a new line of credit in your name, you may not know until long after the fact. One lawmaker is hoping to curb identity theft by giving consumers a heads-up whenever their credit reports are accessed. [More]
Medical Debt Collector Must Pay Consumers $5.4M For Improperly Handling Disputes
By 6.18.15
What happens when you combine expensive — and often unanticipated — medical bills and overzealous debt collectors? An environment ripe for abusive, unfair collection practices. At least that appears to be the case for an operation that must pay $5.4 million in relief to consumers for allegedly mishandling credit reporting disputes and preventing individuals from exercising their debt collection rights. [More]
Credit Bureaus Must Pay $6M, Fix Errors More Quickly Under 31-State Agreement
By 5.21.15
The three largest companies to collect and disseminate credit information for millions of Americans – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – must significantly change the way they treat disputed information on credit reports as part of a massive multi-state settlement announced this week. [More]
JPMorgan Chase, Bank Of America Agree To Wipe Debt Cleared By Bankruptcy From Credit Reports
By 5.8.15
Two of the country’s largest banks are finally getting around to removing the debt consumers eliminated during bankruptcy proceedings from their credit reports, a move that puts Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase in line with federal law. [More]
FICO Expands Program To Give Millions Of Consumers Free Access To Credit Scores & Reports
By 4.21.15
Millions of financially struggling consumers who work with qualified nonprofit counseling agencies now have access to free credit scores and credit reports with the expansion of the FICO Score Open Access program. [More]
Credit Bureaus Agree To Revamp Practices For Handling Errors, Unpaid Medical Bills
By 3.9.15
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – the three largest companies to collect and disseminate credit information for millions of Americans – must undergo an overhaul of credit reporting practices as part of an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office. [More]
CFPB Warns Specialty Credit Reporting Agencies: You’ve Gotta Issue Free Annual Reports, Too
By 11.29.12
Oh, hey, specialty credit reporting companies. Whatcha doing? Just hanging out? That’s great. Listen, just an FYI, you need to be issuing free credit reports to your customers, too. Nope, it’s not just the three largest credit reporting companies, you’re all in the same boat. Our pals at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are here to remind you, in case you’d conveniently forgotten. [More]
Capital One Mails Fraud Claim To The Person Committing Fraud
By 9.17.08
“Lisa” writes, “I recently found out that I was a victim of identity theft.” What shocked her, and us as well, is that after Capital One notified her that they’d approved the card with another address, they followed up by sending their fraud claim to the criminal’s address instead of Lisa’s.
Massive TransUnion Settlement To Reveal Credit Scores
By 6.1.08
Did you have a credit card between Wednesday and 1987? Great! You’re part of a massive class action settlement with TransUnion. The credit reporting agency has agreed to fork out services worth over $100 to every cardholder as a way of saying “sorry for grossly violating federal privacy laws by selling your private data to businesses!”
Finding Legal Lucre In Identity Theft
By 11.18.07
A slate of companies legitimately profit from identity theft by offering services that the three credit reporting agencies refuse to make easily accessible to consumers. The Times brings us the stories of three such companies that are sucking the venture capital teat all the way to market:
