UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580

Office of the Secretary

March 5, 2013

Michael Weinacht

State of Oklahoma

Re: In the Matter of Equifax Information Services LLC, File No. 1023252 

Dear Mr. Weinacht:

Thank you for your comment regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s consent

agreement in the above-entitled proceeding. The Commission has placed your comment on the

public record pursuant to rule 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, 16 C.F.R. §

4.9(b)(6)(ii), and has given it serious consideration.

In your comment you suggest that Commission actions should published more broadly

than in the Federal Register. The Commission publishes press releases for all public actions

with links on our website www.ftc.gov. Further, the Commission uses social media, including

Facebook and Twitter, to inform a broader audience of its actions. 

Your comment further asserts that the relief, particularly the amount of monetary relief,

obtained from Equifax Information Services LLC (“Equifax”) is inadequate. In addition, you

express concern that individuals’ creditworthiness may be affected for seven years by the

information sold by Equifax. The Commission is committed to protecting consumers in

financial distress as well as safeguarding consumer privacy and believes that the proposed order

with Equifax will further this objective. 

The monetary remedy in the proposed consent order is disgorgement, which is limited to

the amount of the entity’s ill-gotten gains. The order requires Equifax to pay $392,803 which

represents its gross revenue from the sale of the lists at issue and does not include any deduction

for overhead or other expenses. In deciding whether the amount and type of monetary remedy in

this or any other consent order is appropriate in relation to the alleged violations, the

Commission carefully considers a variety of factors, including the type of monetary relief

authorized by law, the specific facts at issue, and the alleged violations of the law. The

Commission considered these factors in this case and determined that disgorgement and

injunctive provisions will provide the appropriate level of relief. 

 In addition to disgorgement, the proposed consent order includes a number of injunctive

provisions designed to prevent future violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). For

example, the order prohibits Equifax from furnishing prescreened lists to anyone that it does not

have reason to believe has a permissible purpose to receive them and from failing to maintain

reasonable procedures to limit the furnishing of prescreened lists to anyone except those who
have a permissible purpose to receive them. Further, the order prohibits Equifax from selling

prescreened lists in connection with offers for debt relief products or services and mortgage

assistance relief products and services, when advance fees are charged, with limited exceptions. 

Should Equifax violate any term of the final order, it could be liable for civil monetary penalties

of up to $16,000 per violation per day (pursuant to Section 5(l) of the FTC Act).

With respect to your concern that consumers’ creditworthiness will be affected for seven

years by the information sold by Equifax, we note that while inquiries related to prescreening do

appear on consumers’ credit reports, these inquiries do not have a negative effect on consumers’

credit scores. 

Having considered all the facts of this case and all of the comments submitted in

response to the proposed order, the Commission has determined that the public interest would

best be served by issuing the Decision and Order in final form without any modifications. The

final Decision and Order and other relevant materials are available from the Commission’s

website at http://www.ftc.gov. It helps the Commission’s analysis to hear from a variety of

sources in its work. The Commission thanks you again for your comment.

By direction of the Commission, Commissioners Leibowitz and Wright not participating.