The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had a busy week.
In addition to the actions described in the two posts below, yesterday, the CFPB announced action against the two largest providers of background screening reports to employers for failing to verify the accuracy of reports sold to employers about job applicants.
[T]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against two of the largest employment background screening report providers for failing take basic steps to assure the information reported about job applicants was accurate. The serious inaccuracies reported by General Information Services and its affiliate, e-Background-checks.com, Inc. (BGC), potentially affected consumers’ eligibility for employment and caused reputational harm. The CFPB is ordering the companies to correct their practices, provide $10.5 million in relief to harmed consumers, and pay a $2.5 million civil penalty.
“General Information Services and its affiliate failed to take basic steps to provide accurate background screening reports to employers about job applicants,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Today, we are holding two of the largest companies in this market accountable for cleaning up the quality of their reports.”
Under the terms of a consent order, the two companies will provide $10.5 million in relief to harmed consumers,revise their compliance procedures,retain an independent consultant, develop a comprehensive audit program, and pay a civil monetary penalty of $2.5 million.
A link to the consent order is provided in the CFPB press release.
