CFPB Issues Interim Final Rule that Requires Inclusion of New Notice in Summary of FCRA Rights

Written By ESR News Blog Editor Thomas Ahearn

On September 12, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – the United States government agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector – issued an interim final rule to be effective on September 21, 2018, that requires a new notice of rights to be included when a consumer receives a Summary of Rights as required by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) passed in May of 2018 called for the addition of the new notice to any Summary of Rights required by section 609 of the FCRA. The notice language – provided in S. 2155 – explains consumers have a right to place a “security freeze” with nationwide consumer reporting agencies (NCRAs) and for an initial fraud alert of up to one year.

The CFPB’s interim final rule begins the notice with a header explaining that the security freeze right is available specifically with the three major NCRAs – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – even though the notice must be provided by all consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), the official term for background check firms. The rule also makes updates to contact information provided in the Summary of Rights.

To mitigate the impact of these changes on users of the existing model forms, the interim final rule also provides that the CFPB will regard the use of the model forms published in Appendices I and K on November 14, 2012, to constitute compliance with the FCRA provisions requiring such forms, so long as a separate page that contains the additional required information is provided in the same transmittal.

The CFPB was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008. In April 2018, the CFPB presented its Semi-Annual Report to Congress and then CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney wrote in an introductory message to the report: “The Bureau is far too powerful and with precious little oversight of its activities.”

To access the new FCRA model disclosures issued by the CFPB – which include a revised summary of consumer rights and a revised summary of consumer identity theft rights in both English and Spanish – please read the ESR News Blog entitled “CFPB Issues Updated FCRA Model Disclosures” that is available at www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2018/09/19/cfpb-issues-updated-fcra-model-disclosures/.

More Information about the CFPB from ESR

Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) – a leading global background check firm – provides employers with information about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which took over administering notices required by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on January 1, 2013. To read more about the CFPB, visit www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/tag/cfpb/.

NOTE: Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) does not provide or offer legal services or legal advice of any kind or nature. Any information on this website is for educational purposes only.

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