Consumer Reports submitted comments in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Request for Comment on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Protecting Americans from Harmful Data Broker Practices (Regulation V).
Consumer Reports previously filed comments in response to the Bureau’s Request for Information on this docket, detailing the experiences of consumers with data brokers. Consumers reported having difficulty removing information from data brokers’ repositories, unsuccessful efforts to opt out of data collection, and a range of harms associated with the collection and dissemination of their information, such as spam, identity theft, fraud, and scams.
Consumer Reports largely supports the intent of the Bureau’s proposal to bring data brokers under the auspices of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). We support amending the definition of consumer reporting agency (CRA) and consumer report to ensure that data brokers that sell information about consumers’ credit history or other financial information are CRAs. We also support the proposal to amend FCRA such that CRAs remain covered when they share credit header data with third-parties.
However, we note that, without clarification, the Proposed Rule may inadvertently weaken protections for consumers in certain states by allowing data brokers to rely on exemptions in those laws when they include protections that exceed those in FCRA. We provide CFPB with recommendations to mitigate these concerns.
To read more, please see the attached PDF.