CFPB Fines Equifax $15 Million for Credit Report Errors

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has fined Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the United States, $15 million for failing to comply with federal laws on handling credit reporting data. The CFPB found that Equifax violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by not properly investigating consumer disputes, allowing previously deleted inaccuracies to reappear, and sharing inaccurate credit scores and data with lenders.

Equifax, based in Atlanta, Georgia, processes approximately 765,000 disputes each month. The CFPB's investigation revealed that Equifax failed to thoroughly investigate consumer disputes, consider relevant information submitted by consumers, and provide accurate results to consumers. In many cases, Equifax did not look at the information submitted by consumers at all. After forwarding information about a dispute to a furnisher, Equifax did not meaningfully consider whether the furnisher's response made sense, sometimes ignoring information it had that contradicted the furnisher's response. The resulting letters Equifax sent to consumers sometimes contained confusing or contradictory statements.



Equifax also did not have systems to detect information that was previously removed and block that information from again appearing on the consumer's credit report. In addition, Equifax had no process to identify situations where a consumer was forced to send another dispute about the same inaccurate information because Equifax failed to correct it the first time. Equifax's policies also limited consumers' ability to dispute inaccurate information being put on their credit report. Finally, Equifax reported credit information that it should have blocked because the information resulted from identity theft.

The CFPB also found that coding errors in Equifax's internal software caused the company to miscalculate and share inaccurate credit scores for several hundred thousand consumers. The company also reported the same credit accounts multiple times for more than 50,000 consumers.

Equifax has agreed to pay a $15 million civil penalty to the CFPB's victims relief fund and bring its dispute resolution processes into compliance with the FCRA and CFPA. The order requires Equifax to follow federal law on handling credit reporting data and pay the civil penalty.

This fine highlights the importance of accurate and reliable credit reporting for consumers and the need for credit reporting agencies to comply with federal laws. Consumers should be aware of their rights under the FCRA and the importance of monitoring their credit reports regularly. If you find inaccuracies in your credit report, you have the right to dispute them with the credit reporting agency.