The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) released a bulletin today directed toward companies that provide information to credit reporting agencies (these companies are also known as “furnishers”). According to a CFPB press release, the bulletin stresses that
The CFPB expects each furnisher to fulfill its legal obligations by: Receiving information and investigating disputes: When a consumer files a dispute about a credit report item, companies need to be able to receive information about the dispute and must investigate the consumer’s concerns.
Providing investigation results: Furnishers must report the results of the investigation to the consumer reporting company that sent the dispute originally.
Correcting inaccurate information: Furnishers are required to report the results of the investigation to nationwide consumer reporting companies if those companies may have received inaccurate or incomplete credit information. Furnishers also have to modify, delete, or permanently block disputed information that is incomplete, inaccurate, or cannot be verified.
Furnishers who fail to timely respond to consumer disputes may face liability under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you have questions about a credit issue, contact us.