WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee – today commended the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s action against Experian, the world’s largest credit monitoring firm, over allegations that it was deceptively marketing credit scores to its customers and failing to provide them with free annual access to their credit reports.

The CFPB fined Experian and its subsidiaries $3 million for misleading customers by telling them that the credit scores they bought from the company were the same scores that lenders used to make credit decisions. The bureau also ordered Experian to explain the difference to consumers between the score they buy and the score lenders receive. Since 2012, more than 900 Ohioans have submitted complaints about Experian to the CFPB’s online consumer complaint database, according to the bureau.

“A person’s credit score can have a huge impact on their mortgage or car loan payments and even their employment,” Brown said. “Selling consumers a fake credit score isn’t just deceitful, it also makes it impossible for them to make the best financial decisions. The CFPB’s action today will help ensure that consumers who make the effort to track and correct their credit information aren’t misled by unfair products and deceptive advertising.”

 

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