Credit Bureaus Finally Pay for Errors on Credit Reports and More

Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc. and TransUnion LLC have agreed to pay $6 million to 31 states to resolve an investigation into customer disputes over errors in their credit reports, fraud and identity theft, the states announced Wednesday.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office led the investigation starting in 2012, which looked into how the agencies handled consumer disputes, how they monitored and disciplined entities that provide credit reporting information, the accuracy of consumer credit reports and other issues.
Under the deal, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion have agreed to improve their monitoring of companies that furnish credit reporting information, to limit marketing aimed directly at consumers and to add protections for consumers who dispute the information on their credit reports. Among other things, they will no longer market credit-monitoring services to consumers during phone calls related to disputes — at least until the dispute portion of the call is over. The agencies have also agreed to quickly escalate complicated disputes, including those involving identify theft, fraud or situations in which consumers’ information is mixed together. The agencies are required to notify one another if they discover a mixed file, and consumers who successfully dispute information on their credit report will receive an additional free report in a 12-month period. They will also be barred from adding information about consumers’ fines and tickets to their credit reports, and may not add medical debt information on credit reports for 180 days after they’re notified, to give consumers time to work out problems with their insurance companies,