Yesterday I attended an interesting webinar regarding Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) developments.  Susan Camp Stocks from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Katherine Ripley White from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) participated, along with my colleagues Bob Belair and Kevin Coy. The speakers covered a fair amount of ground on different FCRA issues, including the importance of furnishers of information having written policies and procedures.  However, I want to focus on what they said about the background screening industry.

FTC Comments

• They are focusing on background screening and in particular the use of criminal history records in employment screening
• Accuracy of the reports is essential
• Red flags that background screeners should review/consider when reporting public records — different names or DOBs, multiple entries for the same offense, and the reporting of expunged cases
• They are working with the Federal Interagency Reentry Council to address accuracy related issues in the criminal justice system
• They will turn their attention to focus on tenant screening in the next year and it is likely that we will see revised guidance in this area

CFPB Comments

• Among their policy priorities is consumer reporting
• It appeared that there is a belief that there is weak oversight of public record providers and that they believe more audits of such providers should be conducted to address accuracy issues
• Accuracy of the reports is very important to them and they spoke about the enforcement action against General Information Services and e-Backgroundchecks.com to illustrate the point