FCRA

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a study comparing credit scores sold to creditors and those sold to consumers.  The study found that approximately 1 in 5 consumers would, upon purchasing their credit score from a consumer reporting agency, receive a different credit score than the score provided to creditors for use

An employment background screening company will pay a $2.6 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.   The FTC alleged that HireRight Solutions, Inc., which compiles background reports to assist employers in making hiring and other employment-related decisions, is a consumer reporting agency since its reports “bear on

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a final rule to implement its authority under section 1024 of Dodd-Frank to subject “larger participants” in the consumer reporting market to CFPB supervision.  The rule will have significant consequences for companies in the consumer reporting industry.  The final rule follows a proposed rule issued in February 2012 indicating that the CFPB intended to supervise the consumer reporting market as part of the CFPB’s authority to supervise nonbank providers of consumer financial products and services.  The final rule is effective September 30, 2012. 

The final rule defines a “larger participant” in the consumer reporting market as a nonbank covered person that offers or provides consumer reporting and has annual receipts from consumer reporting in excess of $7 million.Continue Reading CFPB Issues Rule to Supervise Larger Participants in Consumer Reporting Market

On February 7, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission sent letters to six marketers of mobile applications that provide background screening services.  The applications, including “Police Records,” “Criminal Pages,” and “Locate Anyone,” provide criminal record histories that, if used for employment or other Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)-related purposes, may subject the marketers to treatment

A putative class action was filed on Monday against Amazon.com following an online hacking attack that potentially compromised the personal information of up to 24 million customers of its online shoe retailer Zappos.com.  An email sent to customers from Zappos.com’s CEO on Sunday assured users that full credit card information and other payment information was

In mid-October 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released version 1.0 of its Supervision and Examination Manual.  Pursuant to Dodd-Frank, the CFPB has primary examination authority for compliance with federal consumer financial laws over banks having $10 billion or more in assets and their affiliates, such as banks’ service providers, as well as

Earlier this week, California became the latest state to restrict the use of consumer credit reports in the employment context, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law A.B. 22.  As we previously have blogged, a growing number of states–including Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Maryland–have augmented the protections provided by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) with laws that further limit the ways in which credit reports may be used in making employment decisions. Continue Reading New California Law Restricts Use of Credit Reports for Employment Purposes

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) assumed certain powers and authorities set forth in Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  The CFPB is tasked with implementing and enforcing Federal consumer financial laws to ensure that consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services, and that