Credit reporting problems can affect any consumer. Join G. John Cento of Cento Law LLC on May 30 as he presents an introduction to credit reporting law, including a review of the many important provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an outline of the credit reporting industry key players and common claims brought [...]
Employers obtain background checks (or consumer reports, commonly known as credit reports) to aid decision making when it comes to evaluating a consumer for employment, promotion, reassignment, or retention as an employee. Intelli Corp, HireSafe, HireRIght, Clarifacts, EmployeeScreenIQ, and Proforma are just a few of the many background check/employee screening companies that offer employers their [...]
Negative information such as: delinquencies, bankruptcies, charge-offs, loan defaults, foreclosures, law suits and judgments, and tax liens are barred from forever appearing on your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires credit reporting agencies to remove most negative information from your credit reporting after the credit reporting time limit has expired. Reporting old, [...]
A new government study reports that over 40 million Americans have mistakes on their credit reports; and 20 million Americans have serious mistakes on their credit reports. Just before the government study was released, 60 Minutes aired a story about their investigation into the credit reporting industry. As explained by 60 Minutes, both the government [...]
The Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) recently released its fifth interim report on a national study of credit report accuracy. This was the first national study to include participation from consumers, lenders/data furnishers, FICO and the national consumer reporting agencies (the “CRAs”). The FTC found that: “26% of the 1,001 participants in the study identified at [...]
K-Mart, in Pitt v. K-Mart Corp., Case No. 11-cv-00697, has reached a $3 million settlement in a class action lawsuit pending before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The class consisted of more than 64,000 job applicants who sued K-Mart for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”). Specifically, [...]
Possible Unauthorized Charges By Experian Cento Law is currently investigating claims that Experian, a national consumer reporting agency, directly or indirectly through its various other websites, such as FreeCreditReport.com, ProtectMyId.com, LowerMyBills.com, ClassesUSA.com, Pricegrabber.com, may be charging consumers for credit reports or credit reporting services without their authorization and consent. One consumer has reported that they [...]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has announced that it will hold two field hearings in January on mortgage policy. In addition to hearing testimony from consumer groups, industry representatives, and members of the public, the field hearings will feature remarks from CFPB Director Richards Cordray. It is anticipated that various Dodd-Frank mandated mortgage regulations [...]
In a study released this month by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB found that there are specific limitations on the e-OSCAR system; the electronic system used by the national consumer reporting agencies (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax) (CRAs) to process consumer disputes of the accuracy of their credit reports. Under the Fair Credit [...]
One of the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) roles is to protect job applicants and employees against inaccurate information being reported to employers; because employers can access your credit report to make decisions regarding hiring, firing, promotion, reassignment, or retention. In addition to financial history, the consumer reports provided to employers consist of arrests, convictions, judgments, [...]