Cento Law, Court Cases, Credit Reporting Law, Law
Cento Law
Our recent oral argument before the Fifth ...
Our recent oral argument before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
CFPB, Enforcement, Law, Credit Errors, Dispute Process, e-Oscar, Investigations, Understanding the FCRA
Cento Law
CFPB Sues Experian

On January 7, 2025, the CFPB filed a lawsuit against Experian alleging that Experian violated FCRA by failing to properly conduct reinvestigations of disputed information in consumer credit files; failing to delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverified information in consumer credit files; failing to provide adequate written notice to consumers of the results of its reinvestigations; failing to prevent the improper reinsertion of previously deleted information from consumer credit files; and failing to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the credit information Experian reports on consumers. In addition, the complaint alleges that Experian committed unfair acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by (1) failing to convey consumers’ disputes to furnishers fully and accurately, and instead distorting, truncating, and mischaracterizing consumers’ disputes; (2) relying excessively on furnishers to resolve disputes, routinely doing nothing more than sending the dispute to a furnisher and implementing the furnisher’s response, despite having evidence of that furnisher’s unreliability; and (3) improperly reinserting tradelines into consumer credit reports due to its practice of failing to adequately match newly reported tradelines to tradelines that were previously deleted as a result of a dispute if the subsequent furnishing was from a new furnisher. The Bureau seeks, among other things, to bring Experian into compliance with the law, consumer redress, and the imposition of civil money penalties.

CFPB Sues Experian
Credit Reporting Law, Law, Cento Law, Understanding the FCRA
Cento Law
Understanding the FCRA: What Consumers Need to ...

Understanding the FCRA - Credit Reporting Law

Understanding the FCRA: What Consumers Need to Know About Credit Reporting Agencies
Credit Reporting Law, Credit Reporting History
Cento Law
Credit Bureaus Unveiled: The Power, ...
Credit Bureaus Unveiled: The Power, Consolidation, and Consumer Struggles from 1970 to Today
Credit Reporting Law, Cento Law
Cento Law
FCRA - The Fair Credit Reporting Act
FCRA - The Fair Credit Reporting Act

Credit Report

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What to Know About FCRA Compliance

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What to Know About FCRA Compliance

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or the FCRA, is a federal law that was enacted in 1971. It was originally designed for consumers to receive help resolving inaccuracies in their credit reports.

        The range of the FCRA was expanded in 1996 to include: background checks for employment screening. It is mandatory for an employer using a third party to conduct background checks under the FCRA compliance.

        The FCRA compliance was made to protect the consumer. Employers that use background reports and Consumer Reporting Agencies, also known as background screening companies are regulated by the FCRA. The FCRA is relevant when an employer obtains a background check for employment from a third party. Background checks include things such as: criminal history, employment verification, education verification, reports on motor vehicles, health care sanctions and professional licenses. The employer and background screening company must have compliance with the FCRA.

        It is highly important that an employer must disclose that they will be doing a background check and they must have written authorization. There are strict adverse action procedures that they must follow if they make an employment decision based on negative information in the report. According to the Consumer Reporting Agency, they must have compliance in procedures that make sure reports are as accurate as possible, while following all state and federal reporting guidelines.

     Here are terms to know to understand more about the FCRA:

The Consumer Report. This is a background report aka a background check that contains factual information of dates of employment, criminal records, and driving history.

The Investigative Consumer Report. This is a background report that includes information obtained through personal interviews that discuss employment performance such as a  personal and/or professional reference check.

The Consumer Reporting Agency, (CRA),  which is where the background screening company prepares the background report.

The Consumer – Which is the person who is the subject of the report.

The User – The person who is requesting and using the background report.

Disclosure – The document used to inform the consumer that they may be subject to a background report.

Authorization – The document signed by the consumer in which they authorize preparation of the background report.

Adverse Action – The process followed by an employer when considering a negative employment decision based on the background report.

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Mixed Credit Reports Explained

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Mixed Credit Reports Explained

What is a Mixed Credit Report?

A mixed credit report is the result of a credit reporting agency’s inaccurate merging of credit information and/or an entire credit file belonging to one consumer into the credit file of another consumer.

The credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union, collect information about you and store it in their databases. They each have hundreds of millions of bits of raw data in their databases and the bits are used to create credit files and consumer disclosures (more commonly known as credit reports).

A credit file is the name used to describe all the information a credit reporting agency has about a consumer. Credit files are created as the result of a query posted to the credit reporting agencies database. The courts and the Federal Trade Commission define the term ‘credit file’ to include anything that might be included in a consumer report prepared about a consumer.

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G. Cento to Speak at the Indiana Paralegal Association's Monthly Meeting on August 21st

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G. Cento to Speak at the Indiana Paralegal Association's Monthly Meeting on August 21st

Join Attorney G. John Cento and the Indiana Paralegal Association at their August 21st Monthly Meeting on Credit Reporting 101.

Attendees will learn all about credit reports, including how they are created, how to read them, and what to do when they contain inaccurate information. Credit Reporting 101 will also introduce those in attendance to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and some of its core consumer protections.

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Credit Agencies To Ease Up On Medical Debt Reporting

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Credit Agencies To Ease Up On Medical Debt Reporting

NPR - Millions of Americans have medical debt that's hurting their credit. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated it's as many as 43 million people, according to data released in late 2014.

Now, some relief may be on the way.

Changes in the way credit agencies report and evaluate medical debt are in the works. They should reduce some of the painful financial consequences of having a health care problem.

Starting Sept. 15, the three major credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — will set a 180-day waiting period before including medical debt on a consumer's credit report. The six-month period is intended to ensure there's enough time to resolve disputes with insurers and delays in payment.

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Are you sure your credit report contains only your information?

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Are you sure your credit report contains only your information?

Mixed credit reports are more common than you may realize. Your credit file may contain information belonging to someone else, and unless you look at your credit report, you may never know. Watch this short clip to learn more ...

What is a Credit Report?

What is a Credit Report?

A credit report is not the same thing that you get when you ask for your "credit report" directly from the credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion or through AnnualCreditReport.com. That document that you get when you go directly to a consumer reporting agency is a document known in the credit reporting industry as a consumer disclosure. The purpose of a consumer disclosure is to comply with the federal law which requires the credit reporting agencies to disclose the contents of your credit file to you when you ask for it. Nor is a credit report something that currently exists at this very moment. Unless it just so happens that right now you are applying for credit, you don't have a credit report. A credit report is something that is created at the moment it is asked for. 

At its most basic level, a credit report is simply a report that is...

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Credit Files & Credit Reports

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Credit Files & Credit Reports

The term "credit file" is often used interchangeably with "credit report", but in the credit reporting industry these terms are distinctly different.  A credit file is a bit of raw data contained within a database. At any given time, the national consumer reporting agencies maintain hundreds of millions of consumer credit files in their databases. According to some estimates these files relate to approximately 250 million credit active consumers across the United States. This means that many consumers have more than one credit file in a consumer reporting agency's system.

A "credit report" is something that does not currently exist. A credit report is created at the moment that it is asked for. Your credit report might look different today than it will a month from now, and most certainly will look different than it did three months ago. ...