On December 6, 2018, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“CFPB”) announced that it had entered into a consent order with a federal savings association headquartered in Bloomington, Ill.  According to the consent order, the CFPB alleged that the savings association violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., by obtaining consumer reports without a permissible purpose; furnishing to credit-reporting agencies (“CRAs”) information about consumers’ credit that the bank knew or had reasonable cause to believe was inaccurate; failing to promptly update or correct information furnished to CRAs; and furnishing information to CRAs without providing notice that the information was disputed by the consumer.  The CFPB also alleged that the savings association violated Regulation V, 12 C.F.R. 1022, by failing to establish and implement reasonable written policies and procedures regarding the accuracy and integrity of information provided to CRAs, which also constitute independent violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5536(a)(1)(A).

Under the terms of the consent order, the savings association must implement and maintain reasonable written policies, procedures, and processes to address the practices at issue in the consent order and prevent future violations.  The CFPB did not impose civil penalties, but signaled that they may impose a penalty in the future if the savings association violates the order.