The Attorneys General of 31 states entered into a major settlement with the three largest national credit reporting agencies — Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc., and TransUnion LLC. An assurance of discontinuance was reached to settle concerns that the credit reporting agencies engaged in conduct that violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Participating in the settlement are the attorneys general from the states of: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The settlement is the result of a multi-state investigation initiated in 2012 by a group of state attorneys general. The investigation, which Arizona was a part of, focused on consumer disputes about credit report errors, monitoring and disciplining data furnishers (businesses or creditors that provide credit reporting information to credit reporting agencies), accuracy in consumer credit reports, and the marketing of credit monitoring products to consumers who call the credit reporting agencies to dispute information on their credit report.
Under the settlement, which is subject to court approval, the credit reporting agencies have agreed to pay the participating states a total of $6 million and to make a number of changes to their business practices that will benefit consumers. Arizona’s portion of the money is $160,149.98.
Key provisions of the settlement include:
Higher standards for data furnishers:
• The credit reporting agencies must maintain information about problem data furnishers and provide a list of those data furnishers to the states upon request.
• The credit reporting agencies and data furnishers must use a better, more detailed system to share data.
Limits on direct-to-consumer marketing:
• The credit reporting agencies cannot market credit monitoring services to a consumer during a dispute phone call until the dispute portion of the call has ended.
• The credit reporting agencies must tell consumers that purchasing a product is not a requirement for disputing information on their credits reports.
Added protections for consumers who dispute credit reporting information:
• The credit reporting agencies must implement a more comprehensive escalation process for handling complicated disputes, such as those involving identity theft, fraud, or files in which one consumer’s information is mixed with another’s.
• Each credit reporting agency must notify the other agencies if it finds that one consumer’s information has been mixed with another’s.
• The credit reporting agencies must send consumers’ supporting documents to the data furnisher.
• Consumers may obtain one additional free credit report in a 12-month period if they dispute information on their credit report and a change is made as a result of the dispute.
Limits to certain information that can be added to a consumer’s credit report:
• The credit reporting agencies are generally prohibited from adding information about fines and tickets to credit reports.
• The credit reporting agencies cannot place medical debt on a credit report until 180 days after the account is reported to the credit reporting agency, which gives consumers time to work out issues with their insurance companies.
• The credit reporting agencies must require debt collectors to provide the original creditor’s name and information about the debt before the debt information can be added to a credit report.
Additional consumer education:
• The credit reporting agencies must tell consumers how they can further dispute the outcome of an investigation into a dispute, such as by filing a complaint with other agencies.
• Each credit reporting agency must provide a link to its online dispute website on the website www.annualcreditreport.com, and the credit reporting agency’s dispute website must be free of ads and any marketing offers.
Participating in the settlement are the attorneys general from the states of: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
To file a consumer complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, consumers can go online at www.azag.gov, click “Consumer” and then click “File a Complaint” or contact the Consumer Information and Complaints Unit in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763; in Tucson at (520) 628-6504 and outside of the Phoenix metro area at (800) 352-8431.