Credit Bureaus to Get Close Look for Coronavirus Response, CFPB Says

CFPB director Kathleen Kraninger warned credit reporting bureaus and the lenders that furnish data to them to comply with federal coronavirus relief requirements amid a surge in complaints to the consumer watchdog agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will closely monitor the industry’s compliance with the CARES Act and subsequent agency guidance, despite the challenges the pandemic presents, Kraninger told the Consumer Data Industry Association on Friday.

“Consumers expect that their credit report should reflect accurate information of their financial history, and when it does not, the Bureau is ready to help them resolve those issues,” Kraninger said in remarks provided by the CFPB.

The CARES Act provided credit reporting relief to consumers who receive a forbearance on their mortgages or other types of accommodations due to job losses or reduced income caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Delayed mortgage payments and other relief provided under the March law should not result in a negative mark on a consumer’s credit report.

The CFPB issued guidance in April that allowed credit bureaus to take more time than the 30 days allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to address consumer complaints, if the bureaus can prove that a good faith effort was made to meet the original deadline.

Record Complaints

Kraninger said that April and May saw a record number of complaints about credit reporting bureaus on the CFPB’s consumer complaint database.

Consumers filed 42,400 complaints in April, the first full month when much of the country went under lockdown to combat the coronavirus, and 44,100 in May, Kraninger said.

More than half of the complaints related to consumer credit bureaus received in April and May dealt with discrepancies on credit reports, the CFPB said.

A total of around 7,200 complaints mentioned terms related to coronavirus or Covid-19 in those two months, the CFPB director said.

The three financial products that saw the largest number of complaints in April and May were mortgages, with more than half of those complaints citing an inability to make a payment, credit cards and credit reporting, according to the CFPB.

Kraninger said that the bureau typically uses the consumer complaint database as a way to guide their supervision and enforcement priorities.

Complaints will continue to serve as a guide to the CFPB’s coronavirus response, Kraninger said.