The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a joint action against a rental screening subsidiary of TransUnion (NYSE:TRU), charging the company with violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
In a press statement, the agencies claimed TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions “failed to take steps to ensure the rental background checks that landlords use to decide who gets housing were accurate.” The agencies also claimed the TransUnion subsidiary failed to identify the third-party vendors in its disclosures to consumers.
The agencies have asked a federal court to force TransUnion to pay $15 million in damages. Separately, the CFPB said it was ordering TransUnion to pay $8 million “for lying to consumers about timely placing or removing security freezes and locks on the credit reports of tens of thousands of consumers.”
“Americans across the country were put at risk of wrongful housing denials because TransUnion failed to follow the law,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “We are ordering TransUnion to cease its yearslong illegal activity, clean up its broken business practices, redress its victims, and pay penalties.”
“Consumers struggling to find housing shouldn’t be shut out by tenant screening reports that are ridden with errors and based on data from secret sources,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Protecting consumers looking for housing is critical to a fair economy, and we are proud to partner with the CFPB in obtaining this record-breaking order.”
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