Equifax Fined $15M for Consumer Dispute Failures

Equifax, one of the three major consumer reporting agencies in the United States, has been fined $15 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for failing to properly investigate and resolve consumer disputes about inaccurate information on their credit reports. The CFPB found that Equifax ignored consumer documents and evidence submitted with disputes, allowed previously deleted inaccuracies to be reinserted into credit reports, and provided confusing and conflicting letters to consumers about the results of its investigations. The order requires Equifax to comply with federal law on handling credit reporting data and pay a $15 million civil money penalty, which will be deposited into the CFPB's victims relief fund.

"Equifax failed in its basic duty to investigate and resolve consumer disputes about inaccurate information on their credit reports," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. "Today's order requires Equifax to pay a civil penalty and follow federal laws on handling credit reporting disputes."

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) is a nationwide consumer reporting agency with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Equifax is the parent company to Equifax Information Services LLC, and is one of the three major consumer reporting agencies in the United States. It aggregates data about most adult consumers and sells that data to its customers in the form of consumer reports that are used by lenders, employers, landlords, and others to make important decisions about consumers.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires consumer reporting agencies to investigate the accuracy of disputed information and take steps to ensure consumers' credit reports are accurate. For example, consumer reporting agencies must provide notice of a consumer dispute to the furnisher who provided the disputed information, conduct reasonable investigations to determine whether the disputed information is inaccurate, and provide the results of the investigation to the consumer.

The CFPB found that Equifax violated the FCRA's requirements for investigating and processing consumer disputes and assuring maximum possible accuracy of information on its consumer reports. The CFPB also found that Equifax violated the law by using ineffective systems, flawed processes, and excessive deference to furnishers to address disputes. Specifically, the CFPB found that Equifax harmed consumers by:

* Failing to thoroughly investigate consumer disputes: Equifax's process for submitting disputes limits the ability of consumers to fully and accurately describe their disputes. In many cases, Equifax also failed to consider relevant information submitted by consumers, sometimes not looking at the information at all. Then, after Equifax forwarded information about a dispute to a furnisher, it did not meaningfully consider whether the furnisher's response made sense, sometimes ignoring information it had that contradicted the furnisher's response. Finally, the resulting letters Equifax sent to consumers sometimes contained confusing or contradictory statements, such as both "this has been verified as accurate" and "this item has been deleted."
* Putting previously deleted errors back on credit reports and failing to block identity-theft related information: Equifax 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 also had no process to identify situations where a consumer is forced to send another dispute about the same inaccurate information because Equifax failed to correct the information the first time, or because Equifax reported information that had previously been corrected. Equifax's policies 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.
* Sharing inaccurate credit scores and data about consumers with lenders: 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.

Enforcement Action
Under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the CFPB has the authority to take action against institutions violating consumer financial protection laws, including the FCRA, and the prohibitions on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices under the CFPA.

The order requires Equifax to:

* Follow federal law on handling credit reporting data: Equifax must bring its dispute resolution processes into compliance with the FCRA and CFPA.
* Pay a $15 million penalty: Equifax will pay a $15 million civil penalty to the CFPB's victims relief fund.



Equifax has been fined $15 million for failing to properly investigate and resolve consumer disputes about inaccurate information on their credit reports. The CFPB found that Equifax ignored consumer documents and evidence submitted with disputes, allowed previously deleted inaccuracies to be reinserted into credit reports, and provided confusing and conflicting letters to consumers about the results of its investigations. The order requires Equifax to comply with federal law on handling credit reporting data and pay a $15 million civil money penalty, which will be deposited into the CFPB's victims relief fund.