The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released a field guide outlining the procedures it will use in examining credit bureaus and other consumer reporting companies.
According to the CFPB, the new procedures will direct examiners in assessing whether companies have reasonable procedures in place to ensure accuracy of the information about consumers that appears in their credit reports. This will include looking at how companies screen information that they receive for accuracy and how companies match incoming information to a particular consumer's file to make sure it appears on the right consumer's report.
The procedures will also direct examiners in determining if reporting companies conduct reasonable investigations when consumers dispute the accuracy or completeness of their files. The procedures also address issues relating to preventing identity theft and other fraud, and ensuring that companies provide consumers with their file information and credit scores.
‘Consumer reporting, and especially credit reporting, plays a significant role in a consumer's life,’ says CFPB Director Richard Cordray. ‘It can dictate whether or not a consumer is able to get a credit card, a mortgage or a student loan. Our supervision program will benefit hundreds of millions of consumers by making sure these companies are playing fairly and by the rules, and our field guide will ensure that all companies are held to the same standards.’
The new procedures are now online. The CFPB's authority to supervise consumer reporting companies takes effect Sept. 30.
