My colleague, Marc DeGirolami, read through the Spokeo oral argument transcript and had the following observations. I thought they might be of interest to readers of the blog. * Justice Kagan emphasized to counsel for Spokeo that the reporting/dissemination of false information in credit reports is itself plausibly described as a harm. So that […]
Category Archives: Credit Reporting
Here. An excerpt: The arguments in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins et al. took the usual pattern of the four liberal justices arguing for a broad interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and standing to bring claims under Article III and the conservative justices appearing to seek to limit companies’ exposure to court proceedings. In the […]
CNBC has the story here. Three of the top four are the big three credit bureaus. The Consumer Bankers Association is dismissive of the findings. Quoting now from Marketplace: “They're basically in the shaming of banks business by providing what I call a ‘David Letterman Top 10 List’ of complaints,” says Richard Hunt, president of […]
Amy Schmitz of Colorado has written Secret Consumer Scores and Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' from 'Have-Nots', Michigan State Law Review, p. 1411 (2014). Here is the abstract: “Big Data” is big business. Data brokers profit by tracking consumers’ information and behavior both on- and offline and using this collected data to assign consumers evaluative scores […]
Here. An excerpt: The reality is that credit-reporting firms have been required for decades to ensure the accuracy of consumers' files. They're not doing us a favor. They're just finally saying that they'll follow the law. "For years, the credit-reporting agencies have scoffed at the law," said Scott Maurer, a law professor at Santa Clara […]
Here. My favorite part: I've written a lot over the years about the need for government to step in when markets fail to protect consumers.* * * Nearly every time, I get angry push-back from tea-party types and libertarians who question any intervention – even against monopolists or near-monopolists. Among the rare exceptions: the nation's […]
by Jeff Sovern New York's Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, announced a settlement with the big three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, which is intended to improve credit report accuracy. According to Scheiderman's release: The agreement requires that the CRAs employ specially trained employees to review all supporting documentation submitted by consumers for all disputes […]
Here, in the Washington Post