A trio of lawmakers have forwarded correspondence to Equifax, noting concerns regarding alleged issues within the consumer credit reporting company’s credit scoring system.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent the letter as a means of addressing the company’s alleged failure to correctly report consumer credit scores and delays in informing lenders and consumers of problems.
The lawmakers allege the inaction resulted in consumers being denied or charged higher interest rates for auto loans, mortgages and credit cards. Also, they are requesting that Equifax be responsible for mistakes in its credit scoring system.
“This is a deeply troubling allegation, raising questions about the impact your opaque practices may have on America’s financial institutions and on individual borrowers, who may be stuck paying higher costs for loans, credit cards, cars and houses,” the legislators wrote. “Your company owes the public a clear and transparent explanation for why and how it made such grievous errors, the scope of the errors and why you have failed to notify affected consumers of these errors.”
The lawmakers have requested answers to questions regarding inaccurate credit score reporting, the impact on consumers, and their plans to notify and compensate impacted consumers by Aug. 19, 2022, per authorities.
Equifax possesses credit scores of over 200 million domestic consumers and delivered more than 2.8 billion consumer credit card files to lenders last year.
The lawmakers cited a report that said from March 16, 2022, to April 6, 2022, Equifax sent incorrect credit scores for hundreds of thousands of consumers to lenders, resulting in higher interest rates and denied applications.