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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

Kraninger emphasizes need for FCRA and CARES Act compliance

Federal Issues Covid-19 CARES Act FCRA Consumer Reporting CFPB

Federal Issues

On June 19, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger spoke during a Consumer Data Industry Association webinar, warning information furnishers and consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) that the Bureau has dedicated significant resources toward enforcement of certain provisions of the CARES Act and the FCRA. Specifically, Kraninger emphasized the Bureau’s reliance on consumer complaint data to inform its supervisory and enforcement activity and noted that April and May had the highest monthly complaint volumes in the Bureau’s history, with approximately 7,200 complaints mentioning Covid-19 related terms during that time. Kraninger referenced the Bureau’s April policy statement, which stated the Bureau would take a “flexible supervisory and enforcement approach during this pandemic regarding compliance with the [FCRA] and Regulation V” (covered by InfoBytes here). However, Kraninger warned that furnishers are still required to comply with the CARES Act, and that the “Bureau expects CRAs and furnishers to make good faith efforts to investigate disputes as quickly as possible.” According to Kraninger, due to the unique challenges the Covid-19 pandemic has created, the Bureau will evaluate each CRA and furnisher’s respective efforts and circumstances on an individual basis to determine whether it made the good faith effort to investigate as quickly as possible.