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TransUnion, a major credit reporting agency, has been fined $23 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over various credit report concerns.

The agencies penalized TransUnion due to inaccuracies in rental background checks and mishandling consumers’ credit report locks and freezes. The CFPB disclosed that TransUnion would dispense $15 million and institute “significant improvements to how it reports evictions.” Moreover, an additional $8 million has been imposed on the agency by the CFPB for allegedly “lying to consumers” concerning security measures requested by many clients.

Contrary to these requests, TransUnion is alleged to have diverted them to a “yearslong backlog.”

In response, TransUnion mentioned it hadn’t accepted any wrongdoing in the settlements but acknowledged making strides in addressing the highlighted issues. They elaborated, “Over the past year, we have… made certain changes to how eviction records are reported,” and rectified “system issues” concerning security protocols in 2020.

These fines, while relatively modest compared to other regulatory actions, underscore the continuous scrutiny of credit bureaus by consumer protection agencies. Samuel Levine from the FTC emphasized the significance of accurate reporting: “Consumers struggling to find housing shouldn’t be shut out by tenant screening reports that are ridden with errors and based on data from secret sources.”