State and federal authorities are proposing tougher regulations against Equifax and the entire credit monitoring industry after the company announced that personal information like Social Security numbers of about 143 million Americans was exposed. The Washington Post has the story, here.
The New York Times reports that "[l]obbyists and Republican lawmakers are gearing up for battle over a new U.S. regulation that is likely to dent profits in the $6 billion short-term, high-interest "payday" loan industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is expected in coming days to release a long-anticipated rule curbing payday lending, now […]
As explained in this detailed press release, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today filed the nation’s first enforcement action against Equifax alleging that the company failed to protect the personal information of almost three million Massachusetts residents. Healey claims that “that Equifax knew about the vulnerabilities in its system for months, but utterly failed to keep the […]
This Wall Street Journal report gives more details on how the Equifax hack happened — more for me, at least. The report also includes this statement suggesting that Equifax's security is not so great: Alex Holden, chief information security officer of identity-theft monitoring company Hold Security LLC, says Equifax has long been considered a target for identity […]
by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week, Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a press release about the responses she had received from Bank CEOs to her questions about the CFPB's arbitration rule, Responses from Bank CEOs Demonstrate Positive Impact of CFPB Arbitration Rule, Undermine Industry Case for Reversal. The press release contains a lot of interesting information, […]
Here, in the LA Times. Excerpt: First, visit the company’s often crashing Web page to check if your information was compromised. Then decide whether to sign up for the one year of free credit monitoring, * * * Next, the personal finance experts said, freeze your credit reports, not just at Equifax, but at its […]
by Jeff Sovern Equifax is, as expected, turning into a huge consumer protection story and as with many such stories, it is generating so much news that not only is it hard to keep up, it seems easier to give up. Still, I wanted to direct our readers to a report in the Times, Equifax […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday, the House passed an appropriations bill that incorporates provisions from the Financial Choice Act that would cripple the CFPB. According to Law360: The base bill would make a number of changes to the CFPB, including bringing it under the purview of the normal appropriations process. In addition, the bill would remove […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. The customers in question had purchased Equifax's credit monitoring service. You know, the service it's now offering for free. Oh, and in addition to the CFPB investigation, the NY AG's investigation, and the class actions, the FTC is now investigating the security breach.
Just two days before Equifax made public the massive hack of sensitive information of 143 million Americans — which Equifax kept secret for many weeks — U.S PIRG's Ed Mierzwinski posted this piece criticizing the three credit reporting agencies for their incompetence and congressional republicans for seeking to deregulate the industry. Here's an excerpt: What would you do […]