HBO’s John Oliver Rips Into Credit Reporting Agency Errors

“Measuring credit enables businesses to know who to lend to. It’s critical to our economy, and it always has been.”

Obvious, right?

Well, HBO’s John Oliver, who kicked off his segment about credit reporting agencies with that simple reminder dug into the industry to show why that vision has gotten skewed in recent years.

But in Oliver’s scathing segment about the three big credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — and where there may be gaps in the system. Gaps that include mixing up identities, and in some cases, having credit scores and identities mixed up with the wrong people routinely.

He shared a case of people not getting jobs, loans and apartments because their identity was mixed up with someone with a poor credit score. Or in one case, a woman’s identity being confused with someone who was dead. He also digs into how credit scores are used for determining if an employee would be a good employee — despite the fact that credit reports take into account for multiple types of debt, including medical bill debt.

“It’s not just banks deciding whether to lend you money,” Oliver said. “It’s also landlords deciding whether to rent you an apartment. Insurers setting your rates. And even employers using it to decide whether or not to hire you.”

John Oliver points out that 25 percent of consumers have an error on at least one credit report, citing a research study. One in four had an error, he noted, and 20 percent of reports ran were wrong.

In fact, according to Last Week Tonight’s research, those three big credit bureaus have been on the CFPB’s complaint list since 2015 kicked off — despite the fact that they have agreed to improve their processes since.

But, Oliver takes his attack one step further.

“If only we could make this whole industry understand the jeopardy they’re placing people in,” Oliver said. “Do you know what? Maybe we can.”

Well…for more on the companies he had created to make a point, check out the clip above.