For the second time this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against one of the nation’s three largest credit reporting agencies for allegedly failing to investigate consumer disputes properly.
The CFPB ordered Equifax to pay a $15 million civil money penalty for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), citing similar claims to those included in its enforcement action against Experian earlier in January.
According to the CFPB consent order against Equifax, the reporting agency ignored consumer documents and evidence submitted with disputes, allowed previously deleted inaccuracies to be reinserted into credit reports, provided confusing and conflicting letters to consumers about the results of its investigations, and used flawed software code which led to inaccurate consumer credit scores.
“Equifax failed in its basic duty to investigate and resolve consumer disputes about inaccurate information on their credit reports,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said. “Today’s order requires Equifax to pay a civil penalty and follow federal laws on handling credit reporting disputes.”
Equifax aggregates various types of data about most U.S. adult consumers and sells that data to its customers in the form of consumer reports that are used by lenders, employers, landlords, and others to make important decisions about consumers. Equifax processes approximately 765,000 disputes each month, the bureau noted in the release.
Dodd Frank Update will update this story with more details shortly.