Tag: FCRA

February 20, 2015

Employers Running Background Checks: Top 10 Tips to Avoid Joining the Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation “Club”

  What do Whole Foods, Chuck E. Cheese, Michael’s Stores, Dollar General, Panera, Publix, and K-Mart have in common?  Each of these companies has faced lawsuits (including class actions) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).  Although Congress passed the FCRA way back in 1970 and litigation has focused on credit reporting agencies’ duties under… Read More

August 27, 2013

’60 Minutes’ Show Gets Facts All Wrong in Report on Credit Reporting Agencies

The credit reporting industry – dominated by Experian, Equifax and Transunion – maintains a precarious balance of obligations: On the one hand, these companies bear a responsibility to banks and other businesses at large to retain reliable information to ensure that the credit scores they report are a fair representation of the individual’s credit-worthiness. On… Read More

August 16, 2013

FTC ‘Checks’ In With $3.5 Million Consent Order Under Fair Credit Reporting Act

This week the Federal Trade Commission entered into a consent decree with Certegy Check Services, one of the nation’s check authorization service companies, pursuant to which Certegy has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  This massive penalty – the second largest ever – reinforces… Read More

March 8, 2013

Is Equifax Selling Your Salary Information?

According to a recent NBC News report, Equifax, one of the three largest American credit reporting agencies, has assembled an enormous database containing employment and salary information for more than 190 million U.S. adults. Very few people knew of the existence of the database, but the information in it allegedly is being sold to third… Read More

January 24, 2013

Criminal Background Checks? The FTC Knows There’s an App for That

As we cautioned in a September post, the FTC is stepping up enforcement actions against mobile app developers for failure to comply with consumer protection principles. This month, the FTC took another major step in that direction with a groundbreaking settlement applying the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to app developers Filquarian Publishing, LLC, Choice… Read More