CFPB Acts To Reign In Inaccuracies With Credit Information

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Thursday (Mar. 2) that it has identified “significant” issues with the quality of the credit information being provided by furnishers and kept by credit reporting companies.

In a press release, the CFPB laid out the action it has taken to address the ongoing problems, including fixing data accuracy at credit reporting companies, repairing the broken dispute process and cleaning up information being reported.

“Since we began our oversight work, the CFPB has been uncovering and correcting problems in the consumer reporting industry,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in the press release. “Because of our work, important improvements are being made. Much more work needs to be done, but our corrective actions are leading to positive changes that are benefiting consumers all over the country.”

According to the CFPB, consumers continue to complain about the credit reporting industry in high numbers. The CFPB said it has handled approximately 185,700 credit reporting complaints as of February 1, 2017.  One of the big problems consumers have with the credit reporting industry is that when they have an item they want to dispute on their report, nothing changes even though under federal law the credit reporting companies have to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation and update the file to reflect any necessary changes or delete the item. Consumers, said the CFPB, often complain about debts that were already paid showing up on their reports as unpaid. What’s more, consumers complain that information that is not theirs is included in their report, which negatively impacts their credit scores. The CFPB said in 2012 it became the first federal agency to supervise all sides of the credit reporting market, which includes the consumer reporting companies and providers of consumer financial products or services, many of whom furnish or use consumer reports.