Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said Thursday credit reporting agency TransUnion will pay $15 million for failing to follow the law on tenant data accuracy. The FTC joined CFPB in a federal court complaint against TransUnion. Photo courtesy of CFPB
Credit reporting agency TransUnion and its TURSS subsidiary will pay $15 million to settle charges they failed to ensure the accuracy of tenant screening reports, according to a Thursday statement from the Federal Trade Commission.
According to the FTC, this is the largest amount ever recovered in an FTC tenant screening case. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau joined the FTC in obtaining the settlement with TransUnion. Advertisement
The FTC said by including inaccurate and incomplete eviction records about consumers, their ability to obtain housing was hampered.
According to the FTC federal court complaint, TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
“In numerous instances, Defendants have violated the FCRA by failing to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of information in background screening reports that landlords and others rely on to, among other things, make rental decisions about specific consumers, and by failing to clearly and accurately disclose to consumers the sources of information in background screening reports,” the court filing said.
The FTC said that inaccurate information can significantly interfere with consumers’ ability to find housing and also burden them prolonged housing searches, higher rental payments and outright denial of housing. Advertisement
“Americans across the country were put at risk of wrongful housing denials because TransUnion failed to follow the law,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. “We are ordering TransUnion to cease its years long illegal activity, clean up its broken business practices, redress its victims, and pay penalties.”
The proposed settlement order, which needs federal court approval, requires TransUnion to pay $11 million to compensate consumers plus a penalty of $4 million that goes to CFPB’s civil penalty fund.
“Consumers struggling to find housing shouldn’t be shut out by tenant screening reports that are ridden with errors and based on data from secret sources,” said FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine in a statement.
The companies are also required to put procedures in place to ensure the accuracy of information they provide about consumers and help enable consumers to dispute inaccurate information in the future.
