Just days after a settlement was disclosed by one provider of credit services, another settlement has been revealed with another credit services provider.
On Thursday, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that TransUnion had agreed to a consent order that will cost it $19.4 million.
The settlement
related to “common industry practices” tied to the advertising, marketing and sale of consumer reports, credit scores and credit monitoring products.
On Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which issued the consent order against TransUnion, announced that it additionally issued a consent order against Equifax.
The agreement will cost Equifax $6.3 million, including $3.8 million in consumer redress and a $2.5 million civil penalty.
From July 2011 until March 2014, Atlanta-based Equifax allegedly
violated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act by deceiving consumers about the value of the credit scores they sold and tricking consumers into enrolling in subscription programs.
It
also violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by allegedly requiring consumer to view ads before obtaining their free annual report provided by the law.
“TransUnion and Equifax deceived consumers about the usefulness of the credit scores they marketed, and lured consumers into expensive recurring payments with false promises,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in the announcement.
