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CFPB, FTC fine TransUnion $23M for FCRA violations
The CFPB and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Thursday announced a $15 million order against a subsidiary of TransUnion for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The CFPB also took a separate $8 million enforcement action against the company.
In the joint complaint, the CFPB and FTC alleged “the TransUnion company failed to take steps to ensure the rental background checks that landlords use to decide who gets housing were accurate.” In addition, it withheld from renters the names of third parties that were providing inaccurate information.
If the proposed joint order is approved by the court, the company would be required to pay $11 million to consumers, stop illegal tenant screening practices, and pay a $4 million penalty.
The CFPB’s separate complaint is related to TransUnion’s security freezes and locks. The bureau says TransUnion failed to timely place or remove security freezes and locks on tens of thousands of credit reports – falsely reporting to consumers that requests were processed when they were not – and failed to protect certain populations, including active duty servicemembers, from pre-screened solicitation lists.
The bureau’s order requires TransUnion to pay $3 million to consumers, clean up its business practices, and pay a $5 million penalty that will go into the bureau’s victims relief fund.