By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington News Bureau, Contributing Author, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter and Bank Digest.
The Consumer Financial Protection bureau has “many tools” with which to determine if credit reporting agencies are violating the law by failing to forward to creditors all of the information consumers provide when disputing their credit scores. “We've found that this information is not being forwarded,” Corey Stone, a CFPB assistant director, told a Senate Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection hearing Dec. 19, 2012 (webcast). Subcommittee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, remarked that the current system doesn't always work for consumers. “It does work and is quite profitable for the banking industry who are the main customers of the bureau...but not for consumers who, ultimately, face the impact of credit ratings, credit scores.”
The CFPB began handling individual complaints about consumer reporting companies in mid-October. Last week, the bureau issued a report based on information provided by the big three consumer reporting companies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.