FTC Releases Fifth Interim Report on Credit Report Accuracy

On February 11, 2013, the FTC made public its fifth interim report on a national study of credit report accuracy. The report concludes, among other things, that 26% of the 1,001 participants in the study identified at least one potentially material error on at least one of their three credit reports. A copy of the report is available here. The report will likely increase the public and regulatory pressure on furnishers and consumer reporting agencies to maintain the compliant nature of their procedures and the accuracy and integrity of their reporting. Doing so will be challenging, in part since so many of the relevant requirements are framed as "reasonableness" standards. We will report further on these issues as developments warrant.