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In personal finance, practically everything can turn on one's credit score. It's both an indicator of one's financial past, and the key to accessing necessities—without insane costs—in the future. But on Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that two of the three major credit-reporting agencies responsible for doling out those scores—Equifax and Transunion—have been deceiving and taking advantage of Americans. The Bureau ordered the agencies to pay more than $23 million in fines and restitution.
In their investigation, the Bureau found that the two agencies had been misrepresenting the scores provided to consumers, telling them that the score reports they received were the same reports that lenders and businesses received, when, in fact, they were not. The investigation also found problems with the way the agencies advertised their products, using promotions that suggested that their credit reports were either free or cost only $1. According to the CFPB the agencies did not properly disclose that after a trial of seven to 30 days, individuals would be enrolled in a full-price subscription, which could total $16 or more per month. The Bureau also found Equifax to be in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which states that the agencies must provide one free report every 12 months made available at a central site. Before viewing their free report, consumers were forced to view advertisements for Equifax, which is prohibited by law.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday January 06 2017, @08:05PM
True, the correct term would be quadropoly.. But they, collectively, act as a monopoly., and any one of them can act improperly without appreciable repercussions.
OTOH, what are the alternatives? I can think of worse ones as well as better ones. Perhaps the NSA should be in charge? This is basically electronic communication, and financial operations are essential to the continuation of our civilization. Or perhaps a central database where anyone is free to enter or "correct" the data at any time?
When I look at the design requirements, the current system seems basically properly designed, it just needs a *lot* more auditing, and easier access by people to their own data (while not allowing easy access to anyone else's data). And easier ways of challenging bad entries. And some requirement (with teeth in it) limiting the requirement that access be made accessible by other people, including employers and potential lenders. What those limits should be isn't clear, but they should be a lot more stringent than the current ones.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @09:11PM
In some sense the problem is not enough government involvement. All of those improvements are to benefit citizens, the system mostly works great for corporations as is. Yeah they probably miss out on some customers because bad data makes them look like bad customers. But the harm is not proportional - losing 1% of your potential customers is nothing compared to 1% of customers losing 100% of their access to lenders.
And that's why Bethany's original post is right.