Oct. 23, 2012 – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began taking complaints about credit reporting Monday.
“Credit reporting companies exert great influence over the lives of consumers. They help determine eligibility for loans, housing, and sometimes jobs,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Consumers need an avenue of recourse when they feel they have been wronged.”
The CFPB said consumers can file complaints with the bureau over a variety of issues, for example:
- incorrect information on a credit report;
- a consumer reporting agency’s investigation;
- the improper use of a credit report;
- being unable to get a copy of a credit score or file; and
- problems with credit monitoring or identify protection services.
Consumer reporting agencies (including credit bureaus or credit reporting companies) are one of two “larger market participant” nonbanks over which the CFPB has claimed oversight authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. Specifically, the CFPB is focusing on larger consumer reporting agencies that have more than $7 million in annual receipts.
The CFPB’s supervisory authority extends to an estimated 30 companies that account for about 94 percent of the market’s annual receipts. The CFPB assumed supervisory authority over the entities Sept. 30.
NAFCU, commenting on the question of what should be defined as a larger market participant, urged the CFPB to look at the full range of service providers and to define larger participants using criteria such as size, market share and number of specific product markets serviced by such entities. It also urged against setting a single threshold across all markets in determining what is a larger market participant.