[1723196] 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

BEFORE THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

COMMISSIONERS: Lina M. Khan, Chair 

Noah Joshua Phillips 

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter 

Christine S. Wilson 

In the Matter of 

DUN & BRADSTREET, INC., a corporation, DOCKET NO. C-4761

d/b/a D&B. 

COMPLAINT 

The Federal Trade Commission, having reason to believe that Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., a 

corporation, has violated the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and it appearing 

to the Commission that this proceeding is in the public interest, alleges: 

1. Respondent Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (“D&B”), also doing business as D&B, is a 

Delaware corporation with its principal office or place of business at 101 John F. Kennedy 

Parkway, Short Hills, NJ 07078. D&B is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dun & Bradstreet 

Corporation. 

2. From at least May 2015, Respondent has advertised, marketed, offered for sale, 

sold, and distributed products to small and mid-sized business consumers, including products 

Respondent claims will help a business monitor, manage, and build its business credit report. 

Respondent claims that the products offer a business an easy way to provide D&B with positive 

payment history, otherwise unreported by D&B, to improve the business’s credit report. In fact, 

Respondent rejects a majority of the submissions, and thousands of businesses that have paid for 

these products cannot get even a single payment experience added to their credit reports. 

3. The acts and practices of Respondent alleged in this complaint have been in or 

affecting commerce, as “commerce” is defined in Section 4 of the Federal Trade Commission 

Act. 

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Respondent’s Business Practices 

Overview 

4. Respondent is involved in the commercial credit reporting business. Respondent 

maintains files containing information on over 300 million businesses and other entities, 

including nonprofits, cities, counties, municipalities, and other governmental entities 

(hereinafter, collectively referred to as “affected businesses”) worldwide. 

5. Among other things, Respondent creates and maintains commercial credit reports 

on affected businesses. These commercial credit reports contain a variety of information about 

affected businesses, as well as proprietary scores and ratings that Respondent generates and 

assigns. 

6. Respondent makes its credit reports available to entities, including an affected 

business’s potential suppliers and vendors, for a fee. Respondent has represented that a strong 

credit report may improve an affected business’s chances to qualify for loans, attract new 

customers, increase cash flow, lower interest rates, and negotiate better payment terms. 

7. In many instances, Respondent’s credit reports on small and mid-sized affected 

businesses reflect incorrect or incomplete information, including incorrect information about the 

affected business itself or incomplete information about an affected business’s payment 

experiences with other entities and its overall financial health. 

8. Unlike an individual credit report, a D&B credit report does not identify by name 

the entities that have provided payment information about an affected business. Nor does a D&B 

credit report list the specific amount and specific date of any transaction reflected in the report. 

Moreover, even when an affected business questions the accuracy of the payment information 

appearing on the report, Respondent will not tell affected businesses the specific sources of 

Respondent’s information about the affected business except when the source permits such 

disclosure. 

9. If Respondent’s credit report reflects incorrect or incomplete information about an 

affected business, the affected business’s only recourse is to deal directly with Respondent to 

seek to correct or supplement the report. 

10. If an affected business contacts Respondent to dispute a payment experience 

appearing on its credit report, Respondent’s policy is to contact the entity that reported the 

information to Respondent and ask it to recheck the payment experience. Respondent provides 

no new or additional information to the source about the reported payment experience. Thus, in 

some instances, affected businesses cannot obtain changes through this process, or on their own 

by reaching out directly to the reporting entity. 

11. Affected businesses have suffered negative consequences as a result of 

incomplete and inaccurate information appearing on their credit report, including denial of credit, 

less favorable contract terms, and loss of contracts with other businesses. 

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12. Respondent also offers various paid products to small and mid-sized affected 

businesses, purportedly to help them monitor, manage, and improve their own credit reports. 

Respondent uses the term “credit-on-self” to describe these products, as they purportedly allow 

an affected business to monitor, and have information added to, its own credit report, including 

information that would correct or supplement the information reported by Respondent. 

13. Respondent’s “credit-on-self” products have included products called 

CreditBuilder, CreditBuilder Plus, and CreditBuilder Premium and related products or services, 

including Credit Essentials, a product that includes CreditBuilder features. Collectively, these 

“credit-on-self” products are referred to herein as “CreditBuilder Line products.” 

14. Respondent has generated sales of CreditBuilder Line products through multiple 

deceptive acts and practices. 

15. For affected businesses dissatisfied with the accuracy or completeness of the 

information Respondent reports about them, Respondent has routinely deceptively claimed that 

purchasing a CreditBuilder Line product is the path by which an affected business can add 

payment history and improve its scores and ratings. 

16. Respondent has routinely deceptively claimed that if an affected business would 

simply purchase a CreditBuilder Line product and provide information to Respondent, 

Respondent would verify that information and add it to the credit report. For example, in 

pitching CreditBuilder Line products, Respondent’s telemarketers have made specific deceptive 

claims including, “we will contact those companies that you add ... [and] verify that payment 

history going back a full 12 months,” and “[i]t’s a really easy process[,] I just need a little bit of 

information from you and we basically take over the rest from there.” 

17. In addition, in numerous instances Respondent’s telemarketers have deceptively 

pitched CreditBuilder Line products to new businesses, and to businesses unfamiliar with 

Respondent, through misleading claims that the affected business needs to purchase a 

CreditBuilder Line product in order to “complete” its credit file. 

18. Respondent has also employed deceptive practices to enable it to collect payments 

from CreditBuilder Line product customers for products different from the ones to which they 

agreed to subscribe. Moreover, Respondent has deceptively collected credit card information 

from CreditBuilder Line product customers without adequately disclosing material aspects of its 

charging practices, including, in many instances, failing to disclose that at the end of the 

product’s subscription term, Respondent will automatically charge the customer’s credit card 

again for a subscription to a CreditBuilder Line product. 

Background on Respondent’s Credit Reporting Business 

19. To establish a credit file on an affected business, Respondent gathers information 

from sources including public records, payment information supplied to D&B by an affected 

business’s vendors and creditors, and information supplied to D&B by the affected business 

itself. 

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20. At the time it establishes an affected business’s credit file, Respondent also 

assigns the affected business a DUNS number, a unique, nine-digit identifier of a single affected 

business that ties directly to an affected business’s D&B credit file, and which D&B is solely 

responsible for issuing. In numerous instances, Respondent opens a credit file and assigns a 

DUNS number on its own initiative. In other instances, Respondent does so after an affected 

business contacts D&B to request a DUNS number. The request for a DUNS number and the 

creation of a credit file and report are free. 

21. Affected businesses often need a DUNS number, because certain entities require 

an affected business to obtain a DUNS number before they will work with the affected business, 

and the federal government has required an affected business to have a DUNS number in order to 

apply for certain federal government contracts or grants. 

22. Although an affected business should only receive a single DUNS number, in 

some instances, Respondent has assigned a single affected business multiple DUNS numbers 

attached to multiple credit files, and has included different information about the affected 

business in each credit file. 

23. An affected business’s D&B credit report includes basic information about the 

affected business, such as its name, address, and principals, and public information on any 

judgments or liens. In numerous instances, Respondent reports incorrect or incomplete basic and 

public information about an affected business. 

24. An affected business’s D&B credit report may include information relating to 

how the affected business pays its bills, such as whether the affected business pays its bills on 

time, is late, or is delinquent. Respondent bases this element of its business credit reports on 

commercial payment information that it receives from other entities. 

25. Respondent sometimes refers to the sources that supply commercial payment 

information to D&B as “Trade References,” and other times uses the term “Trade References” to 

refer to the payment information these entities provide to D&B. 

26. According to Respondent, only a small number of entities have agreements with 

D&B to automatically report commercial payment information or “payment experiences” to 

D&B on a regular basis about affected businesses with which the entities do business. 

Respondent sometimes refers to these entities as “Trade Tape Providers.” The Trade Tape 

Providers have varied over time. 

27. Of the tens of millions of businesses in the United States, at any given time only 

approximately 3,000-5,000 companies are Trade Tape Providers. 

28. In numerous instances, an affected business’s payment experiences will go 

unreported by D&B. First, an affected business’s suppliers, vendors, and other entities the 

affected business works with often are not Trade Tape Providers and therefore do not 

automatically report an affected business’s payment experiences to D&B. Second, even if the 

Page 4 of 17 
 

affected business has a relationship with a Trade Tape Provider, in some instances, D&B fails to 

report the payment experiences because the Trade Tape Provider may not have provided the 

particular affected business’s payment experiences to D&B, and/or D&B fails to match the 

reported payment experiences to the affected business. 

29. Even when Respondent reports payment experiences, in some instances, such 

payment experiences may be incorrect. Because Respondent reports what Trade Tape Providers 

send to Respondent, any errors in the Trade Tape Provider’s data are inherently reflected in what 

Respondent reports on an affected business’s credit report. 

30. If Respondent contacts a Trade Tape Provider about a dispute from an affected 

business, and receives no response at all from the Trade Tape Provider, Respondent’s practice is 

to delete the disputed payment experience. However, if the same Trade Tape Provider later 

provides another file to Respondent that contains the same disputed payment experience, 

Respondent will again report it. Thus, an affected business may believe that it has effectively 

disputed erroneous payment experience data only to later see it reappear. 

31. In addition to reporting on an affected business’s payment experiences, 

Respondent assigns an affected business various scores and ratings, which appear on the affected 

business’s credit report. These scores and ratings purportedly reflect the creditworthiness of the 

affected business, including predicting the likelihood that the affected business will experience 

financial distress or cease operations over the next year. 

32. Respondent calculates many of the scores and ratings by using payment 

experience information that it receives from Trade References regarding how an affected 

business pays its bills. As Respondent often receives limited or no payment experience 

information about an affected business, and as data provided from Trade Tape Providers may 

contain errors, in many instances the scores and ratings that Respondent assigns, particularly as 

to small and mid-sized businesses, may not accurately reflect how the affected business has 

performed in the past and/or how it will perform in the future. 

33. The manner in which Respondent gathers and maintains data can result in it 

reporting errors and incomplete information. Even in the course of producing CreditBuilder Line 

product information to the Commission during the investigation of this matter, Respondent 

produced data containing errors such as incorrect basic information about Respondent’s 

customers. 

Background on Respondent’s CreditBuilder Line Products 

34. Respondent has represented that CreditBuilder Line products allow an affected 

business to submit the names of the entities it does business with—its own Trade Reference 

information—to Respondent so that Respondent can add the affected business’s payment 

experiences with these entities to the affected business’s credit report. 

35. The number of Trade References that Respondent permits a subscriber to add to 

its credit report differs depending on the CreditBuilder Line product. The basic CreditBuilder 

Page 5 of 17 
 

 

product allows subscribers to add up to four Trade References per year, CreditBuilder Plus 

allows subscribers to add a maximum of 12 Trade References per year, and CreditBuilder 

Premium allows subscribers to add an unlimited number of Trade References. 

36. Most of Respondent’s CreditBuilder Line products are sold as annual 

subscriptions and are generally non-refundable during their term. Respondent typically collects 

subscribers’ credit card information and collects full payment for the term up-front. Respondent 

then automatically renews and charges for CreditBuilder Line products at the beginning of each 

succeeding term unless the subscriber notifies D&B before the end of the term that it does not 

want to renew. 

37. For annual subscriptions, the current list price for the basic CreditBuilder product 

is $899, for CreditBuilder Plus it is $1,499, and for CreditBuilder Premium it is $1,999. 

Respondent sometimes charges an additional $149 one-time activation fee at the time of 

purchase. 

38. In approximately August 2017, Respondent introduced Credit Essentials for 

$1,599 per year. Credit Essentials included access to two products, the basic CreditBuilder 

product and Respondent’s Credit Reporter product, which, among other things, allowed a 

subscriber to monitor the reports of five other companies. 

39. In approximately April 2018, Respondent stopped selling the Credit Essentials 

product described in Paragraph 38 above and began offering a new Credit Essentials product 

(sometimes referred to as Credit Essentials Plus) for $2,499 per year. This new Credit Essentials 

product combined features of CreditBuilder Premium and Credit Reporter. 

How Respondent Introduces CreditBuilder Line Products to Potential Subscribers 

40. In numerous instances, after learning about what they believe to be incomplete or 

inaccurate payment-related information and/or inaccurate scores and ratings appearing on their 

D&B credit reports, affected businesses have contacted Respondent to complain. Respondent 

has routinely offered these affected businesses a CreditBuilder Line product as a way to improve 

their reports. Respondent’s telemarketers have routinely told such affected businesses that 

purchasing a CreditBuilder Line product is the only way to improve their D&B credit reports. 

41. Respondent has also offered CreditBuilder Line products when an affected 

business calls after receiving one or more of Respondent’s “business credit notification” mailers. 

These mailers represent, for instance, that the affected business’s scores have declined and urge 

the affected business to call a D&B “Credit Advisor” or “Account Manager” to learn how to 

“safeguard” the affected business. 

42. For example, one mailer claims that a D&B customer has purchased the affected 

business’s file, and the file contains the affected business’s “Delinquency Predictor Score, which 

has declined.” It warns, “a low Delinquency Predictor Score may mean that you have an 

increased risk of delinquent payments.” The mailer advises: 

Page 6 of 17 
 

companies, bank government agencies- e en current and potential busi_11ess partners- may be 

using information in your D&B credit file to help make decisions about doing business with you. Having 

a complete and well-managed D&B credit prollle can help you: 

• Show your company's financial health in the best possible light 

• Negotiate better payment terms with suppliers 

• Q11alify for better insurance premium and mortgage rates 

Affected businesses are urged to call Respondent to learn more about the inquiry and how D&B 

may help the affected business impact its score. 

43. Respondent also has marketed CreditBuilder Line products directly to affected 

businesses through outbound calls and emails. In many instances, Respondent initiates these 

marketing calls and emails after an affected business has submitted a request for a free DUNS 

number or free credit report, or after Respondent has sent the affected business one or more 

business credit notification mailers as described in Paragraphs 41 and 42, above. 

Respondent’s Telemarketers Tell Potential Subscribers that it Is Easy to Add Trade 

References and that Respondent Will Actively Help Them 

44. Respondent’s telemarketers have routinely begun their sales pitch for 

CreditBuilder Line products by representing that the affected business’s credit report contains 

limited and/or negative payment information, that the vast majority of companies do not report 

payment experiences automatically to D&B, and that therefore, it is up to the affected business to 

manage, report, and update its own D&B credit report. 

45. Respondent has claimed that CreditBuilder Line products allow an affected 

business to manually submit or self-report to D&B its Trade References, and/or add the names of 

its vendors and suppliers to increase the positive payment experiences in its credit report. 

Respondent has claimed that once an affected business submits its Trade References using the 

CreditBuilder Line product, Respondent contacts the Trade References to verify the payment 

history and then adds the payment information to the affected business’s credit report. 

46. Respondent has claimed that CreditBuilder Line products will improve, build, 

and/or establish an affected business’s credit report, and move its credit scores and ratings in a 

positive direction. 

47. Respondent has represented that it will actively assist the affected business in 

getting its payment experiences added to the credit report. 

48. Specifically, Respondent’s telemarketers have represented: 

 [T]here’s only a small percentage of companies that actually automatically record 

[sic] payment history to Dun & Bradstreet.... So when you’re in a niche type of 

line of business, then it’s even harder to get payment history on here.... If you 

want to build the report up, you can actually self-report some of the expenses that 

aren’t being captured on here where you provide ... the contact information for 

the vendor. We’ll go to that vendor to get the payment history to verify and add 

to your credit report. 

Page 7 of 17 
vendors that you had mentioned that you have...we’re going to need to physically 

submit and add them on to your credit report. 

[Ex. F, Sales Call Tr. 13:12-24] 

 [Y]ou simply give us the names and the contact detail of the company that you 

pay bills to. Even if you’re paying up-front using your own debit card right now, 

paying in cash, it doesn’t matter. However you’re paying, you log in here, you 

give us the names and contact detail, we will contact those companies that you 

add. We verify that payment history going back a full 12 months and we manually 

(recording malfunction) that payment history on the report....Now, this DUNS 

number is free. The credit report for the business is free. Again, there’s only a cost 

involved in you submitting the bills because, again, we’re not a reporting 

company, we don’t know who you’re paying. You’re essentially hiring us to work 

for you. 

[Ex. G, Sales Call Tr. 17:4-12, 19:13-18] 

 Just email me the contact information of who you’re going to be making 

payments to and then our trade department is going to do the rest of the work 

from there by calling those companies to verify how much you spent with them, 

the percentage that was paid on time, and if you have any terms with them. And 

then once we verify that information, then that gets added into the report. It’s a 

really easy process. I just need a little bit of information from you and we 

basically take over the rest from there. 

[Ex. H, Sales Call Tr. 7:18-8:2] 

Subscribers Find that it Is Not Easy to Get Trade References Accepted and 

Payments Added, and Respondent Does Not Actively Help Them 

51. Although Respondent has represented to affected businesses that it is easy to have 

their Trade References accepted and unreported payment experiences added to their credit 

reports, in numerous instances and for various reasons, Respondent has rejected Trade 

References added by CreditBuilder Line customers and declined to include the information on 

their credit report. 

52. For example, if a CreditBuilder Line customer submits a company that is a Trade 

Tape Provider, Respondent rejects that submission regardless of whether the entity has actually 

reported on the customer; if the Trade Tape Provider has not reported on the customer, 

Respondent will not bother to contact the entity to let it know it should be doing so. 

53. Respondent also rejects submissions of entities that appear on its no-contact list. 

In numerous instances, these companies are precisely the types of large and well-known vendors 

and suppliers that an affected business may seek to have added to its credit report. While the 

companies on the no-contact list have varied over time, examples have included prominent 

vendors such as Fortune 500 computer companies, internet and telecommunications companies, 

a very large and well-known shipping company, a supplier of paints, coatings and related 

products, a hardware company, and a construction rental company. 

Page 9 of 17 
Respondent Tells Potential Subscribers they Need a CreditBuilder Line Product to 

Complete their Report, for Scores and Ratings, or for their Background Check 

59. In addition to making the Trade Reference claims described above, Respondent 

has represented to potential subscribers, typically those that have applied for a free DUNS 

number and/or are newer businesses, that the D&B credit file will not be useful without a 

CreditBuilder Line product. In numerous instances, Respondent has claimed that a CreditBuilder 

Line product is needed to complete the credit file and enable the potential subscriber to become 

eligible for D&B scores and ratings. Respondent has also represented that a CreditBuilder Line 

product is necessary for D&B to conduct a background check that is required to establish the 

affected business’s file. 

60. For instance, in the course of making CreditBuilder Line product sales pitches, 

Respondent’s telemarketers have represented: 

 [T]he application you submitted, typically, it would take 30 business days. But, 

again, it does leave your file incomplete. So you wouldn’t even yet qualify for the 

full set of ratings. So we will initiate a background check so that way you have 

that completed report. That will only take ... three to five business days. And then 

once that is completed, we typically start your scores and ratings in the mid-range. 

That way, you’re not showing poor ratings right from the beginning.... In order 

for us to initiate the background check and to get the links and logins so that way 

you’ll have the full access to self-report. That would be through a Credit Builder 

basic platform. We just roll this out to newer companies or companies who don’t 

have the DUNS number just yet. 

[Ex H, Sales Call Tr. 10:10-20, 11:5-10] 

 [T]he application that you submitted, typically it would take up to 30 business 

days to receive, but what happens is it does leave the file incomplete. So you 

wouldn’t yet qualify for all seven scores and ratings that are attached to the 

DUNS number. So since you’re using this for commercial purposes -- and that’s 

one reason, we want to make sure at the very minimum you do have that 

completed report. So we will initiate a background check. We don’t need any 

legal documents from you. We’ll get all of that squared away over here. And then 

within three to five business days, once you confirm the company was registered 

and if there’s been any lawsuits or bankruptcies, we complete your file for the 

lifetime of the company.... In order for us to initiate the background check and to 

get the links and logins so that way you have the full access to the report, that is 

through a Credit Builder Basic platform. We just roll this out to newer companies. 

[Ex I, Sales Call Tr. 11:19-12:9, 14:25-15:4] 

 So you actually already have the DUNS number. It’s just that it’s attached to an 

incomplete credit file.... So what we need to do is get you set up so that you get a 

completed report. That’s just going to mean that we confirm operations, make 

sure there are no lawsuits, liens, judgments ... bankruptcies.... and then we’ll set 

you up so that you can add in the names of those suppliers so we can help you 

start to build the credit.... So what we’ll do is we’ll set you up on the entry-level 

Page 11 of 17 
service. It’s only $1,499, and it’s going to complete your report for the life of the 

business.” 

[Ex J, Sales Call Tr. 15:13-16:5, 17:12-15] 

61. In fact, an affected business does not need to purchase a CreditBuilder Line 

product in order for Respondent to conduct a background check or to verify background 

information for a credit file. 

62. A CreditBuilder Line product also is not needed to “complete” an affected 

business’s credit file. In the context of determining whether a Trade Reference is qualified, 

Respondent has represented that a “complete” file means it includes all basic information, such 

as name and contact information. However, affected businesses can use one of Respondent’s 

free online platforms to add or update their basic information and submit financial statements. 

Affected businesses also can, and often do, provide much of this information to Respondent over 

the telephone. 

63. Moreover, a CreditBuilder Line product cannot “complete” a business’s credit file 

in terms of ensuring that the file contains all relevant credit information, since, in numerous 

instances, payment experience information will still be missing or incomplete. For instance, as 

described above, Respondent often does not add payment experience information to an affected 

business’s credit file automatically or manually. 

64. An affected business with a DUNS number and credit file is eligible to receive its 

D&B scores and ratings without a CreditBuilder Line product. At the same time, a CreditBuilder 

Line product cannot ensure that an affected business will in fact receive them all. For instance, 

Respondent requires an affected business to have three payment experiences for a score that 

Respondent refers to as a PAYDEX score. In numerous instances, an affected business that 

purchases a CreditBuilder Line product will not be able to add sufficient payment experiences to 

generate this score. 

65. Respondent has used its claim that an affected business’s credit file is or will be 

incomplete in a marketing campaign to “drive customer traffic” and “maximize” its 

CreditBuilder Line sales opportunities. Respondent has referred to this marketing campaign as 

its “incomplete file campaign.” 

66. Information produced by Respondent to the Commission during the investigation 

of this matter shows that thousands of CreditBuilder Line customers have never submitted even a 

single Trade Reference and never once logged in to their CreditBuilder Line accounts on D&B’s 

online portal. This evidence supports a strong inference that Respondent’s deceptive claims that 

an affected business must purchase a CreditBuilder Line product to avoid having an 

“incomplete” D&B file have been material and effective. 

Respondent’s Deceptive Product Renewal Practices 

67. Many times, Respondent’s telemarketers have failed to tell affected businesses 

that, at the end of the subscription term, D&B will automatically charge the affected business 

Page 12 of 17 
 

again for a subscription to the CreditBuilder Line product being purchased, and that the charge 

will be in the amount of the product’s “then current price.” 

68. In the instances when Respondent’s telemarketers have made this auto-renewal 

disclosure, or something similar, Respondent’s telemarketers have typically buried it in a 

statement after the affected business has already agreed to the purchase and provided its payment 

information. At the time of the initial purchase, Respondent’s telemarketers have not informed 

subscribers that D&B may later substitute a different CreditBuilder Line product for the one that 

the customer is purchasing. 

69. In numerous instances, Respondent has automatically renewed an affected 

business’s CreditBuilder Line subscription at a materially higher price than the price the 

subscriber agreed to at the time of the purchase, without notice or adequate notice to the 

customer in advance of the price increase. Respondent has done this by routinely increasing the 

list price of CreditBuilder Line products and charging the higher price at the time of the 

automatic renewal. Respondent has also done this by eliminating certain CreditBuilder Line 

products and moving existing subscribers into different and higher-priced CreditBuilder Line 

products, a practice Respondent has referred to as “product migration.” 

70. As an example of an automatic renewal at a materially higher price, in November 

2015, Respondent increased the annual list price of CreditBuilder Plus from $1,099 to $1,399, 

and increased it again in July 2016 to $1,599. By 2016, subscribers that purchased CreditBuilder 

Plus at $1,099 were automatically renewed at the “then current price” of $1,599. Despite the 

45% price increase, there was no change to the CreditBuilder Plus features. In numerous 

instances, Respondent did not provide affected businesses with notice or adequate notice of the 

price increase before automatically renewing the product. 

71. Two examples of Respondent’s product migration and price increase practices 

involve the basic CreditBuilder product and a product called “Credit Monitor.” In Spring 2015, 

Respondent temporarily stopped making the basic CreditBuilder product available. At that time, 

the basic CreditBuilder product had a list price of $949. At the time of automatic renewal, 

instead of renewing the product to which the affected business had subscribed, Respondent 

moved numerous basic subscribers into a higher-priced CreditBuilder Plus product that, by July 

2016, cost $1,599 per year, a price increase of more than 65% for a product the subscriber did 

not order. Also in July 2016, Respondent stopped offering its $499 Credit Monitor product and 

moved those subscribers to Respondent’s $1,599 CreditBuilder Plus at the time of their 

automatic renewal. In numerous instances, Respondent did not provide affected businesses with 

notice or adequate notice before the product migration. 

72. Although Respondent has used its “then current price” disclosure to justify 

charging an affected business more for a product than it agreed to pay for its initial subscription, 

when Respondent has reduced the list price of a CreditBuilder Line product, Respondent has 

continued automatically renewing existing CreditBuilder Line customers at the former higher list 

price rather than the new, reduced, “then current price.” 

Page 13 of 17 
 

73. Nor has Respondent applied its product migration practices and automatic 

renewal “at the then current price” in a way that would restore subscribers’ original purchases 

and reduce the amount Respondent charges. Not long after Respondent eliminated the basic 

CreditBuilder and Credit Monitor products in 2015 and 2016, respectively, it reintroduced both 

in early 2018. However, Respondent did not move any of the subscribers it had previously 

moved from these products to the materially higher-priced CreditBuilder Plus through product 

migration back to the lower-priced products they had originally agreed to purchase. 

74. In addition to the automatic renewal and product migration practices described 

above, in numerous instances, Respondent has affirmatively misrepresented to affected 

businesses the CreditBuilder Line product that Respondent is attempting to renew, allowing 

Respondent to move subscribers from one CreditBuilder Line product to another product or into 

higher-priced products without notice to subscribers. 

75. For instance, beginning in approximately August 2017, when Respondent 

attempted to auto-renew a CreditBuilder Plus subscription for a customer whose payment 

method on file was no longer valid, Respondent’s telemarketers would call the subscriber to get 

updated payment information. In some of those instances, Respondent’s telemarketers moved 

CreditBuilder Plus subscribers to Respondent’s new, $1,599 Credit Essentials product by falsely 

representing to the CreditBuilder Plus subscribers that Respondent was calling to renew their 

current subscription, the subscriber needed to provide updated payment information for the 

renewal, and the CreditBuilder Plus product had been renamed Credit Essentials but was the 

same as the subscriber’s current product. 

76. Although Respondent represented to these CreditBuilder Plus subscribers that 

CreditBuilder Plus and Credit Essentials were the same product, they were not. For instance, 

among other material changes in features, Credit Essentials allowed subscribers to add only four 

Trade References per year, while CreditBuilder Plus allowed subscribers to add 12 Trade 

References per year. 

77. As another example, in approximately April 2018, Respondent stopped offering 

the Credit Essentials product described in Paragraphs 75 and 76, above, and began offering a 

new $2,499 Credit Essentials product (sometimes referred to as Credit Essentials Plus), which 

allowed the subscriber to add an unlimited number of Trade References. If the affected 

business’s payment method on file was not valid and did not allow for an automatic renewal of 

the $1,599 Credit Essentials product, Respondent called the subscriber and represented that the 

subscriber’s service was set to renew and that Respondent needed to collect updated payment 

information. In fact, Respondent was not calling to renew the affected business’s current $1,599 

Credit Essentials product, but instead, to move the affected business into the different, higherpriced Credit Essentials Plus product. 

78. Respondent has routinely moved affected businesses from one product to 

another, told affected businesses that they have one product when in fact they have a different 

product, and has sold additional related products and add-on products. As a result, affected 

businesses often experience confusion about what product or products they are paying for and 

what the current features of those products are. 

Page 14 of 17 
 

Count I 

False or Misleading Claims Regarding CreditBuilder Line Products: Trade References 

79. In numerous instances in connection with the advertising, promotion, offering for 

sale or sale of CreditBuilder Line products, Respondent has represented, directly or indirectly, 

expressly or by implication, that: 

a. Using a CreditBuilder Line product allows an affected business to have its 

previously unreported commercial payment experiences added to the affected 

business’s credit report. 

b. Respondent will actively assist CreditBuilder Line product subscribers in adding 

such unreported commercial payment experience information to the affected 

business’s credit report. 

80. In fact, in numerous instances in which Respondent has made the representations 

set forth in Paragraph 79, using a CreditBuilder Line product does not allow an affected business 

to have its previously unreported commercial payment experiences added to the affected 

business’s credit report, and Respondent does not actively assist CreditBuilder Line product 

subscribers in adding unreported commercial payment experience information to the affected 

business’s credit report. Therefore, the representations set forth in Paragraph 79 are false or 

misleading. 

Count II 

False or Misleading Claims Regarding CreditBuilder Line Products: Status of Report 

81. In numerous instances, in connection with the advertising, promotion, offering for 

sale, or sale of its CreditBuilder Line products, Respondent has represented, directly or 

indirectly, expressly or by implication, that CreditBuilder Line products are required for 

Respondent to conduct a background check on the affected business or will provide an affected 

business with a complete report including a full set of scores and ratings. 

82. In fact, CreditBuilder Line products are not required for Respondent to conduct a 

background check on the affected business, and will not always provide an affected business 

with a complete report including a full set of scores and ratings. Therefore, the representations 

set forth in Paragraph 81 are false or misleading. 

Count III 

False or Misleading Claims Regarding CreditBuilder Line Products: 

Collection and Renewal 

83. In numerous instances in connection with collecting updated payment information 

for CreditBuilder Line products that are scheduled to renew, Respondent has represented, 

Page 15 of 17 
directly or indirectly, expressly or by implication, that Respondent is collecting payment for and 

is renewing the product that the affected business purchased the prior term. 

84. In fact, in numerous instances in which Respondent has made the representation 

set forth in Paragraph 83, Respondent is not collecting payment for and is not renewing the 

product that the affected business purchased the prior term. Therefore, the representation set 

forth in Paragraph 83 is false or misleading. 

Count IV 

Failure to Disclose: Renewal Practices 

85. In numerous instances in connection with the advertising, promotion, offering for 

sale, or sale of its CreditBuilder Line products, Respondent has represented that it collects 

customer credit card data for payment so that the customer may subscribe to a CreditBuilder 

Line product for a designated period (e.g., 12 months). 

86. In fact, in numerous instances in which Respondent has made the representation 

set forth in Paragraph 85, Respondent has failed to disclose or disclose adequately, that: 

a. At the end of the designated period, and at the end of each succeeding designated 

period until cancelled, Respondent will automatically charge the customer’s credit 

card again for a subscription to a CreditBuilder Line product. 

b. At Respondent’s unilateral choice, the CreditBuilder Line product for which 

Respondent will charge the customer at the end of the designated period, or any 

succeeding designated period, may be materially different from the CreditBuilder 

Line product to which the customer originally subscribed. 

c. If the list price of the CreditBuilder Line product to which the customer is 

subscribing increases, Respondent will charge the customer the increased price, 

but if the list price of the CreditBuilder Line product to which the customer is 

subscribing is reduced, Respondent will not give the customer the benefit of the 

price reduction and will charge the customer at the higher previous price. 

d. If at any time Respondent unilaterally moves the customer into a different 

CreditBuilder Line product from the one to which the customer is subscribing, 

Respondent will not unilaterally move the customer back to the product to which 

the customer originally subscribed. 

87. These facts would be material to affected businesses in their purchase decisions 

regarding CreditBuilder Line products. 

88. Respondent’s failure to disclose or disclose adequately the material information 

described in Paragraph 86, in light of the representation set forth in Paragraph 85, is a deceptive 

act or practice. 

Page 16 of 17 
 

Count V 

Unfair Dispute Investigation and Resolution Practices 

89. As described in Paragraphs 7-11, 22, 23, 29-33 and 40, in numerous instances, 

Respondent has reported incorrect information on affected businesses’ D&B credit reports, yet 

has not provided affected businesses with a reasonable means to dispute such information. 

90. This practice has caused or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers that 

is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competition and is not reasonably 

avoidable by consumers themselves. This practice is an unfair act or practice. 

Violations of Section 5 

91. The acts and practices of Respondent as alleged in this complaint constitute unfair 

or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal 

Trade Commission Act. 

THEREFORE, the Federal Trade Commission this 6th day of April, 2022, has issued this 

Complaint against Respondent. 

By the Commission. 

April J. Tabor 

Secretary 

SEAL: 

Page 17 of 17 
In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 12, 2019 

FTC-00008796 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 

FTC Exhibit A 
FTC-00008796 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



 OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING 

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 





 MATTER NO. 1723196 



TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 



 DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN 

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 6, 2019 



PAGES 1 THROUGH 17 







 FTC-00008796 





















 For The Record, Inc. 

 (301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00008796 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on January 

 31, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00008796 

 STEVE: . 

 RACHEL: Hi, is Steve available? 

 STEVE: This is Steve. 

 RACHEL: Hi, Steve. It’s Rachel from Dun & 

 Bradstreet on a recorded line. We were chatting online 

 there about the credit files. 

 STEVE: Yes. Can I close my chat file now? 

 RACHEL: Yeah, you can close that out. 

 STEVE: All right. Okay. 

 RACHEL: All right. So is this the first time 

 that you (inaudible) about your credit file; that you’ve 

 ever really needed the credit report before? 

 STEVE: Yeah. 

 RACHEL: Okay. 

 STEVE: We got it in 2005. 

 RACHEL: Okay. 

 STEVE: We were applying for a federal grant 

 from the Department of Education. We had to have a Dun & 

 Bradstreet number. And after we got the grant, I just 

 didn’t -- didn’t even know what my number was after that. 

 I could go back on my original -- look all that up and 

 find it. But I was like, okay, huh. 

 3DJHV  WR 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
	

	

FTC-00008796 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 

 

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For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
- -

FTC-00008796 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 12/ 2019 

9 

1 business, then it's even harder to get payment history on 

2 here. 

3 STEVE: So most of our -- most of our companies 

4 that we deal with don't even report to y 'all. So -­

5 RACHEL: Yeah. 

6 STEVE: -- ifwe don't check up on it and then 

7 update it. then it doesn 't get done. 

8 RACHEL: Any fwther than what it is now 

9 because. I mean, there is $22,800 in here. So it's not 

10 like there's zero dollars. It's just it's not a lot. 

11 You can use --

12 STEVE: Right. 

13 RACHEL: -- services that we provide. So you 

14 can update all that basic and demographic infonnation 

15 that I was talking about. You can update all ofthat for 

16 free online. 

17 STEVE: Okay. 

18 RACHEL: Ifyou want to build the repott up. 

19 you can acnially self-report some ofthe expenses that 

20 aren't being captured on here where you provide -­

21 STEVE: Okay. 

22 RACHEL: -- the contact i.nfonnation for the 

23 vendor. 

24 STEVE: Okay. 

25 RACHEL: We'll go to that vendor to get the 

1 payment histoty to verify and add to yom· credit report. 

2 STEVE: So how do I do that? Do I do that -­

3 where do I do that at? 

4 RACHEL: That's (inaudible) ofself-repo1ting 

5 vendors. So that process ofself-reporting vendors is a 

6 service tliat we provide. It's a paid-for se1v ice. So 

7 your company --

8 STEVE: Okay. 

9 RACHEL: -- would purchase the service with us. 

10 It's called Credit Builder Plus. It gives you access to 

11 monitor yom· scores for a year and it gives you the 

12 ability to repott vendor infonnation for up to 12 vendors 

13 over the course ofthe year. 

14 And at tl1e same time, you can dispute those 

15 payments. But you can dispute tliose for free. You don't 

16 need a paid-for service to do that. Okay? 

17 STEVE: Okay. 

18 RACHEL: Now, the service retails at $1,599. 

19 But based offofthe size ofyour business and the 

20 limited number ofexpenses that you have, we'll offer you 

21 a discount ifyou're interested in proactively building 

22 the repott. That brings the cost ofthe service down to 

23 $800. 

24 STEVE: Well, I'dlike to know what it is 

25 first. You know, I'dlike to go in there and check on 

11 

1 that. 

2 RACHEL: On what is in the repott cutl'ently? 

3 STEVE: Right. 

4 RACHEL: Okay. So you can do that right on our 

5 website for free. 

6 STEVE: Okay. 

7 RACHEL: What you wantto do is go on the 

8 website and register yom· email address. 

9 STEVE: What is my number anyway? 

10 RACHEL: Your DUNS number -- let me give it to 

11 you -- isl-- 12 STEVE: Okay ■ -­ 13 RACHEL: No, it'sl--

14 STEVE: Ohu-· I'm son . 15 RACHEL: Yes. 

16 STEVE: So . 

17 RACHEL: Yes. 

18 STEVE: So three zeroes and. 

19 RACHEL: And at the very begmmng is ■ 

20 STEVE: Got that. 

21 RACHEL: Yeah. So it's a total ofnine digits. 

22 STEVE: I always worry about the big zeroes. 

23 Yon know, the zeroes, man, you can tell -- tl1at gets you 

24 offreal quick. It's got to be the right number. 

25 RACHEL: Right, yeah. 

12 

1 STEVE: Sorry about my badjoke about owner and 

2 chiefbottle washer. I -- when you're a small business, 

3 you do a lot ofthings. 

4 RACHEL: Oh, no~ no. TI1at's okay. It wasn't a 

5 problem at all. I mean, I understand exactly how -- how 

6 that works. You're a jack of all trades. You do all 

7 kinds ofstufffor the company. 

8 STEVE: Yes, yes, yes, yes. 

9 RACHEL: I mean, realistically your scores and 

10 ratings, I don't know how long ago this company pulled a 

11 copy ofyom· repott. It looks like they pulled it -- tlie 

12 most recent pulls happened in the last 90 days. But they 

13 didn't happen, like --

14 STEVE: Probably one ofthose was15 

16 RACHEL: -- last March. 

17 STEVE: --- 18 RACHEL: Yes. So it doesn't look like they 

19 checked it last month. And last month is when that 

20 $20,000 payment. the negative payment, was reported to 

21 the credit file. So ifyou go onto ow· website and you 

22 register for a free accountright on the website, you can 

23 take a look at the free infonnation in tlie credit file. 

24 the basic info for free, including that payment histo1y. 

25 STEVE: Right. 

3 (Pages 9 to 12) 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921 -5555 
FTC-00008796 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 12/ 2019 

13 

1 RACHEL: And you can putthe disputes in to at 

2 least start getting access and figuring out,_you know, 

3 what's in here and get to the bottomofthat patt. 

4 STEVE: Sme. Excellent. Okay. Well, I will 

5 take care ofthat. 

6 RACHEL: Okay? 

7 STEVE: And I appreciate your help. So I'll 

8 know what to do. Like I say, after we got the grant, I 

9 didn't really want a DUNS number because we're such a 

10 small business. 

11 RACHEL: Mm-hmm. Yes. Well, and you're not 

12 going to need it for a lot ofthings. It's just eve1y 

13 once --

14 STEVE: No. 

15 RACHEL: -- in a while, you know, you're going 

16 to nm into a situation where somebody wai1ts to look at 

17 it. So --

18 STEVE: Wel~ ou this: We got 

19 -- there was another-----

20 RACHEL: Mm-lumn. 

21 STEVE: -- that we got a lotofmail for. It 

22 was collection stuff. But itwasn't us. They were a -­

23 some type of construction type thing. 

24 RACHEL: Okay. So that could be part ofthe 

25 problem as to what is showing up on yow- credit files. 

14 

1 STEVE: Yeah. We got some stuffand it had 

2 another person's name on it that we didn't recognize. 

3 And the phone munber was different. And I guess they -­

4 and we actually had a lady call us one time from, like, 

5 Georgia --

6 RACHEL: Mm-lunm. 

7 

8 

9 

STEVE: -- and said, you know, is thilllll 

- And I said yes. And she said, well, I had a 

~ ent that came out to anin 

10 ---and what did I buy from there? I 

11 said, did you have a drug test? And she said no. I 

12 said, well, that's not us. then. 

13 RACHEL: Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. 

14 STEVE: We do drug tests. All we do is drug 

15 and alcohol testing, and DNA testing. 

16 RACHEL: Yeah. 

17 STEVE: And it was -­

18 RACHEL: That's so weird. 

19 STEVE: -- a company, .......in 

20 - thatactuallyh~ her. 

21 RACHEL: Wow. So then it is a ve1y good chance 

22 that some ofthis information in the repott could be 

23 co1111ected with --

24 STEVE: Now, I think they since -­

25 RACHEL: -- this company. 

15 

1 STEVE: -- went out ofbusiness --

2 RACHEL: Oh, okay. 

3 STEVE: -- a couple or three years ago. But 

4 that's been four or five years ago that happened. I 

5 think they went out ofbusiness a couple or three years 

6 ago. They were -- they did. like, home improvement type 

7 stuff, you know, remodeling and things like that. 

8 RACHEL: Mm-hmm. 

9 STEVE: Did some concrete and custom rock work, 

10 you know, stone work, patios and things like that. 

11 RACHEL: Right, yeah. Like general 

12 construction stuff. Gotcha. 

13 STEVE: Yeah, basically. 

14 RACHEL: Well, I mean, once you put these 

15 payments in for dispute, we'11 get to the bottom ofthem 

16 v.rith you. 

17 STEVE: Okay. 

18 RACHEL: And ifwe find that there's a 

19 situation where the payment really doesn't belong to your 

20 business, then we're going to remove it from the credit 

21 repo11. 

22 STEVE: Excellent. 

23 RACHEL: Let me give you a phone number, too, 

24 to follow up with in case you have any issues getting 

25 into the accmmt or ifyou have any problems or anything 

16 

1 like that. 

2 STEVE: Okay. 

3 RACHEL: You can call - -­

4 STEVE: ■- 5 RACHEL!!'! . -- 6 STEVE: And I've got everything else 

7 here now that I nee . I'm going to print all this off 

8 and that way I'll have all my infotmation. And -­

9 RACHEL: Perfect. Yeah, reach out to us -

10 STEVE: Okay. 

11 RACHEL: -- ifyou need anything else. Okay? 

12 STEVE: I appreciate that. 

13 RACHEL: Have a good day. 

14 STEVE: Uh-huh. 

15 RACHEL: Bye-bye. 

16 (The call was concluded.) 

17 (The1·ecording was concluded.) 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

4 (Pages 13 to 16) 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 -www.ftrinc.net- (800) 921-5555 
FTC-00008796 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



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 3DJH 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 12, 2019 

FTC-00008797 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 

FTC Exhibit B 
FTC-00008797 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



 OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING 

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 





 MATTER NO. 1723196 



TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 



 DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 6, 2019 



 PAGES 1 THROUGH 36 





 FTC-00008797 





















 For The Record, Inc. 

 (301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00008797 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on January 

 31, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00008797 

 STEVE: , this is Steve. May I 

 help you? 

 MICKEY: Hi, Steve. This is Mickey with Dun & 

 Bradstreet. 

 STEVE: Oh --

 We’re on a recorded line. Hello, how are you? 

 STEVE: Yeah, I was told earlier that I can go 

 on there and -- without having to pay --

 MICKEY: Uh-huh. 

 STEVE: -- contest a report. 

 MICKEY: So you can dispute --

 STEVE: Because it’s showing a $20,000 --

 MICKEY: Slow payment? 

 STEVE: Something that is on there that I 

 wasn’t aware of. 

 MICKEY: Okay. And I wanted to let you know 

 the call is recorded for quality. 

 STEVE: Sure. 

 MICKEY: So I’m just -- my system is loading up 

 your report right now. So I’m trying to take a look at 

 it so that we can address the situation here. 

 STEVE: Okay. 

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FTC-00008797 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 12/ 2019 

l3 

1 twice. 

l STEVE: Hang on just a second here. 

3 (Brief pause.) 

4 STEVE: Yeah, it's actually $34,000. And I 

5 have an agreement--payment agreement for $100 a month. 

6 That's going to be reduced even ftu·ther. They actually 

7 -- because I have an attomey working on it. 

8 MICKEY: Mm-hmm. 

9 STEVE: TI1ey are looking into that because they 

10 were saying we didn't file some 1120Ss, which we did, and 

11 941s. So I had to turn all those over that I hadhere. 

12 MICKEY: Okay. 

13 STEVE: And they're going to go back and 

14 renegotiate that. It's probably going to be closer to 

15 $14,000 is what the artomey said. 

16 MICKEY: Oh, good. So you guys should be able 

17 to pay that off. 

18 STEVE: So that's why they just did it for $100 

19 a month because. I mean. yon can'towe that much money to 

20 the IRS and they're going to let youpay $100 a month. 

21 MICKEY: Right. 

22 STEVE: Yeal1. And so they even defen·ed the 

23 payments U11til March, the end ofMarch, so they could get 

24 all this cleaned up before the payments start. 

25 MICKEY: Okay. So you can just view those. 

14 

1 Like I said earlier. basic updates and disputes are done 

2 at no charge. Butto be honestwith you, to have an 

3 impact on your scores and your tatings, you ru·e going to 

4 need to add more references in here -- more payment 

5 references to help improve your payment Sllll1llIB1Y, 

6 STEVE: Okay. 

7 MICKEY: So that's where the service comes in. 

8 So that's done tlu,ough the CreditBuilder. So that's a 

9 service that you pay for, and that allows you to add the 

10 payment histo1y to help iniprove your status on Dun & 

11 Bradstreet. 

12 STEVE: Okay. And these -- these loans that 

13 are out -

14 MICKEY.... . The -- 15 STEVE: , all ofthat, those are 

16 probably going to e --

17 MICKEY: Validated? 

18 STEVE: No. Those are probably going to be 

19 wiped out. Those were -- the State Attomey General is 

20 fixing to go after some ofthese companies. And I -- we 

21 took this money out, we were the first part oflast year. 

22 We took some big hits in our business. We do the drug 

23 ru1d alcohol testing. We lost about $6.000 a month in 

24 gross revenues, and $12,000 in bad debt invoices from oil 

25 and gas producers and oil fill service companies that 

1 went out ofbusiness. 

2 MICKEY: Oh, no. 

3 STEVE: And -- yes. And so I took out some -­

4 a couple ofthese advances just to kind ofbridge. They 

5 are -- the attomey general here I think is fixing to 

6 file a class action lawsuit, it sounds like. Because 

7 some ofthese places are doing those daily pays, which 

8 they were doing with us, and it's the way they're 

9 compounding them. It looks like interest rate, which I 

lO didn't understand. 

11 They said, you know, we're giving you this -­

12 you know, this rate at 15 percent. But what it is it's 

13 15 percent ofyour daily gross revenues, and so it ends 

14 

15 

up to be like 200, 300 percent interest, which is illegal 

in the State otallll because the State 0£111111 has a 

16 set maxinmm interest rate that can be charged on loans. 

17 MICKEY: Oh, okay. Well, as soon as you get 

18 that. ifyou do get those paid or ifyou want to dispute 

19 those. you can always dispute them offofthe repo11, 

20 too. And that's part ofthe free se1vice. The only 

21 problem is is you're only able to dispute five items at a 

22 tinie. 

23 STEVE: Right. 

24 MICKEY: So you can dispute the-five and 

25 then --

16 

STEVE: The only one I need to -- the only one 

2 I need to fix right now, the main one, is that lien 

3 because that's - ofcourse, the lien stays in force, but 

4 we do have a agreement --

5 MICKEY: Yeah. And at this point -­

6 STEVE: -- which I have in writing. 

7 MICKEY: -- I mean, it looks like there's two 

8 that are the same lien being reported. 

9 STEVE: Right. 

10 MICKEY: Okay. So that -- because it's on 

11 there twice, it looks like it's two sepru·ate liens when 

12 you look. like, onpaper. You know what I mean? 

13 STEVE: Right. 

14 l\1ICKEY: So you're going to need to dispute 

15 those. And then plus that $20,000 slow payment, or the 

16 unfavorable comment. That also needs to be taken care 

17 of, too. 

18 STEVE: Right. 

19 MICKEY: And then in the meantime, you're going 

20 to need start adding in the tradelines. Now you can't 

21 see this on your end, but there have been 11 inquiries on 

22 the repo11. 

23 STEVE: Right. 

24 MICKEY: So those ru·e other companies ptu-d1ased 

25 a new 1·eport to run a risk assessment on you. Other than 

4 (Pages 13 to 16) 

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FTC-00008797 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 

21 

1 card processing company here in tov.1J1. I said, we don't 

2 use them; we use Inmit QuickBooks for all of our credit 

3 card processing. And so -- it was weird. 

4 MICKEY: That is. That is really weird. Okay. 

5 Because it's strange that the state would even let them 

6 register the name so close to ymu·s, or even the exact 

7 same name. 

8 STEVE: Now, I use. - I don't use my home 

9 address 011 anything because ofwhat we do for a living. 

10 We have--, we don't give out om· address. We've had our 

11 house vandalized twice. 

12 "MICKEY: Ullhh, really? 

13 SIBVE: Yes. 

14 MICKEY: So -- so what you're doing right now, 

15 it is going to make you verify that. But we're not 

16 posting it anywhere. 

17 STEVE: Right. 

18 MICKEY: Whatyou're doing is you have to 

19 authenticate to confim1 you are who you say you are in 

20 order to have access to the disputes --

21 STEVE: Okay. So nobody has access to this? 

22 MICKEY: No. We don't publish that or 

23 anything. 

24 STEVE: Okay. That's good. Because --yeah, 

25 we do drug testing for the comts here. And --

22 

1 MICKEY: Oh, I see. 

2 STEVE: Yeah. You have _people lose their 

3 children. They tend to get a little upset. 

4 MICKEY: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Even though it's 

5 1·eally their fault. 

6 STEVE: Well, it's never their fault. 

7 MICKEY: Oh~t, right. 

8 STEVE: And- is no longer in the business. 

9 

10 

MICKEY: Okay. Yeah, I seen her listed-- STEVE: ___ 

11 MICKEY: Okay. I wasn' t sure ifshe was your 

12 • or not or--

13 STEVE: - 14 MICKEY: -- business partner. Okay. 

15 

16 

17 

18 

STEVE:

-~ii~Y -JIP..•-

19 MICKEY~ 

20 

21 STEVE: ---■--

22 an-ang:~~i-······ 

23 

24 

25 --■STEVE: It ■■-- MICKEY: ■--- -

23 

1 

2 

3 

4 111

STEVE: 

■ av

5 MICKEY: Right. 

6 STEVE: Okay. Oh, wow, what's this? 

7 Professional license. We don't really have one even 

8 though I have them. It's notrequired --

9 MICKEY: What is that? What is it asking you? 

10 STE\lE: Professional license. You're not going 

11 to have ours on here. 

12 J\.1ICKEY: Yeah. Is it a requirement to put 

13 sometlling there? Ifnot I wouldjust skip that. 

14 STEVE: I don't think so, no. 

15 J\.1ICKEY: Okay. 

16 STEVE: No, it's not. 

17 J\.1ICKEY: Okay. 

18 STEVE: It does not have atl asterisk or 

19 anything. 

20 J\.1ICKEY: Okay. 

21 STEVE: We don't have a website. I have a 

22 Facebook, but not really. 

23 J\.1ICKEY: TI1at's fine. 

24 STEVE: I don't twiddle, twitter or -- I call 

25 it tweedle and -- because to me it's useless. 

24 

1 MICKEY: Yeah. I have a Facebook, but that's 

2 it. I don't do Instagram and -

3 STEVE: I don't do all that. 

4 MICKEY: - Twitter and -

5 STEVE: No, we have a Facebook page -­

6 MICKEY: -- Snapchat and --

7 STEVE: -- but it's more -- it's more -- we 

8 have people that get us on Facebook to ask questions, I 

9 had this chug test at such and such and it did this, and, 

10 you know, I was told that you guys can help me and tell 

11 me what to do. And so it's more professional. It's a 

12 business Facebook page. We don't really use it that 

13 much. It's a question and answer thing for me. 

14 "MICKEY: Yeah. And ifyou're doing it for the 

15 court, you really don't have to, like, market your 

16 business out. Right? Unless you --

17 STEVE: We do. 

18 "MICKEY: -- guys are trying to find more -

19 STEVE: We do. But we don't --

20 MICKEY: -- companies to reach out to. 

21 STEVE: -- market much because it all comes 

22 from our other -- our customers. So we're loading your 

23 infonnation; this may take a few minutes. But, yeah, we 

24 -- we don't really -- we used to have a website and, I 

25 don't know, I'm a quirky person. I'm not -- what are the 

6 (Pages 21 to 24) 

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FTC-00008797 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 

29 31 

1 details. Huh. Liens for -- there it is. There's four 1 MICKEY: What. s dJat? And then v:hen you try to 

2 ofthose. So I could do all -- I could do two of1hose, 2 call and to get it straightened out, you're spending 

3 coulm't I? 3 hours on the line. 

4 MICKEY: You should be able to, yeah. 4 STEVE: Well. it's - you know, it's one of 

5 STE'/E: Because they're all for 1he same 5 those things that you do stupid things when you panic. 

6 amotmt. Is that what you're showing? 6 MICKEY: Mm-hmm. 

7 MICKEY: The tv.'O, the two bottom ones were for 7 STEVE: And I 1hought. okay , well,. what I'll do 

8 the same alllOllllt. 8 is I'll just hold off on paying some ofthese 94ls and 

9 STEVE: What is that showing, the $40.000? 9 business will pick up and I'll pay a little late fee and 

10 MICKEY: Forty- yeah, like43 each. Let me lO a penalty and that will be all she \\rote and v.ae'll catch 

11 pull it back up. 11 up. 

12 STEVE: And \\rhat are the top ones for? 12 MICKEY: Yeah. It doesn't work out that way, 

13 MICKEY: Yeah, 43. 13 huh? 

14 STEVE: That one should be the 4,800. 14 STEVE: Yeah. That was stupid 

15 MICKEY: The top one is for 2,900, and then the 15 MICKEY: Well. at least nowyouknowforthe 

16 second one down doesn't have a number. 16 foture. 

17 

18 

19 

20 

STE\lc: Okay. They were filed on the same day. 

So it's probably the same filing. 

MICKEY: Start v.rith the two bottom ones because 

1hose are the worst or lhe largest amounts -

17 

18 

19 

20 

STEVE: ■- MI KEY ----•■- ••

STEVE: Yeah. 

21 STEVE: Okay. 21 

22 MICKEY: - I should say. 22 

23 STEVE: All right. Okay. Now, one ofthose - 23 

24 rmgoing to do both ofthem because lhat's not the 24 

25 amount. Thafs the same filing. 25 

30 32 

1 MICKEY: Yeah. Justput notcoirect amount. 1 

~··-···- 2 STEVE: Upload - it says upload. 2 

3 

4 

5 

MICKEY: Oh, that's right You've gotto put 

some documents in there. 

STEVE: Okay. 

3 

4 

5 

MICKEY: 

SIEVE: -~-Ir-It 

6 MICKEY: I'msony, I forgot about that. So 6 

7 you - you have the document right oow, right? 7 MIC 

8 STEVE: So I can put that agreement -- I can 8 STEVE: 

9 

lO 

put thatpayment agreement in there -

MICKEY: YealL 

9 

10 -■ MICKEY:

11 STEVE: - and that would - okay. ll 

12 MICKEY: Hopefully - hopefully it's going to 12 

13 remove it. I can't guarantee that it's going to remove 13 

14 it. But ifnot, I'm hoping atleast they're going to 14 

15 remove one so that there's not the two listings on there 15 

16 so it doesn't look like you owe 90 grand. I mean, that's 16 

17 a lot ofmoney. 17 

18 STE\lE : Right. Yeah, yeah. And it's not 18 

19 actually nmch even. So - 19 

20 MICKEY: Mm-hmm. I mean, you're - you're like 20 

21 a third ofthat. So if we can get it down to 30,000. 21 MICKEY: Oh, no. 

22 that "'ill probably look a lot better. 22 STEvr:: Mm-hmm. 

23 STEVE: Hang on a second Let me get the 23 :MICKEY: That's temble. 

24 phone. IRS. Yeah. that was pretty strange dealing \\ith 24 STEVE: So I had to go do\\'n today and take care 

25 all that. Well, you sure ne.ed an attorney, though. 25 ofthat That was always good 

8 (Pages 29 to 32) 

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FTC-00008797 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



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 3DJHV  WR 

For The Record, Inc. 

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In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 12, 2019 

FTC-00008800 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 

FTC Exhibit C 
-

-

-

-

-

FTC-00008800 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



 OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING 

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 





 MATTER NO. 1723196 



TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 



 DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN 

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 6, 2019 



PAGES 1 THROUGH 21 







 FTC-00008800 





















 For The Record, Inc. 

 (301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00008800 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on January 

 31, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00008800 

 RONNIE: Thank you for calling Dun & 

 Bradstreet. All calls are recorded. This is Ronnie. 

 How may I help you? 

 PHILIP Hey, there, Ronnie. Philip 

How are yo 

 RONNIE: Hello. I’m great, how are you? 

 PHILIP 



 Good. Hey, trying --

 RONNIE: Good. 

 PHILIP -- to pull up these reports on 

 my business here, and I -- I don’t know what to do. It’s 

 my first time doing it. I was trying to get credit 

 somewhere and somebody said some shit’s showing up on my 

 Dun & Bradstreet report. So I need to see what it looked 

 like. 

 RONNIE: Okay. Let’s -- let me help you with 

 that. Let’s see here. May I have your DUNS number? 

 PHILIP No, I didn’t even know I had 

 one. 

 RONNIE: Oh, okay. Let me see if you have one 

 here. So a lot of times you could be given one 

 organically once you get recognized as a business. 

 PHILIP I had to look it up by telephone 

 3DJHV  WR 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC-00008800 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 

5 

1 nwnber when I was on yow- website. It wouldn' t accept 

2 the business name for some reason. 

3 Oka . What's our business name? 

4 

5 

6 

7 RONNIE: Okay. 

8 PHILIP--

9 RONNIE: Andwhere is yow· business located? 

10 PHILIP - 11 Okay, awesome. Thank 

12 you. And may I have yow· name for compliance pwposes? 

13 PHILIP- Phil 

14 RONNIE: All right, Phil. 

15 PHILIP- Phi.11111 

16 RONNIE: Thanks, Phil. All right, Phil. I'm 

17 looking at your company credit repo1t right now. Your 

18 DUNS number is . It says 

19 the CEO is Matthew 

20 PHILIP Yes. 

21 RONNIE: Is that -- is that right, Phil? 

22 PHILIP- TI1at is correct 

23 RONNIE: All right perfect. It shows that 

24 you're a $9 million company. 

25 PHILIP- Yep. 

6 

I RONNIE: You have inquiries on yolll' repo1t. I 

2 guess, Phil, how familiar are yon with Dun & Bradstreet, 

3 sir? 

4 PIDLIP- I remember talking about you 

5 guys when I was in college. 

6 RONNIE: Okay, nice. 

7 PHILIP- Butother than that... 

8 RONNIE: What was yon talking about in college? 

9 PHILIP- You know, I justremember it 

10 being mention~ ofmy college classes. 

11 RONNIE: Okay. Well. you're familiar with your 

12 personal credit, Phit how that works with TransUnion -­

13 PHILIP- Yes. 

14 RONNIE: -- Equifax, Experian, how they hold 

15 yolll' personal credit? So we -- Dwi & Bradstreet, we hold 

16 yom· business credit. TI1at DUNS munber is like the 

17 Social Secw·ity number to your business, and attached is 

18 your company credit repo1t that I'm cwrently looking at 

19 rigfa now. There is activity on the report. Typically 

20 what that means is that activity is companies or 

21 businesses that you are cwrently working with, it looks 

22 like they reached out to Dun & Bradstreet and they 

23 pw:chased a c of our company credit file. 

24 PHILIP Okay. Yeah, that should have 

25 been recently. 

7 

1 RONNIE: Yeah, yeah. It's -- is- the 

2 manufactming company? 

3 PHILIP- No. It's a- company. 

4 RONNIE: Okay. And why would they be 

5 purchasing your repo1t, Phil? 

6 PHILIP- Because we're increasing the 

7 amount ofbusiness we're doing with them. 

8 RONNIE: Oh, nice. Okay. Let me go over this 

9 basic demographics with youreally quick. I want to make 

10 sure this is going out coITectly. ; yolll' 

11 DUNS number is . That's on the report. Your 

12 phone nwnber is . Is that coffect, Phil? 

13 PHILIP ' lliat is C0ffeCt. 

14 RONNIE: Perfect. And then your address is 

15 ,. (inaudible) lliousand 

16 six. So I've got to ask you for -- being a $9 million 

17 company, you only have three employees? 

18 PHILIP- Yeah. 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

RONNIE: And then Matthew _ _ single 

location: sales is $9 million; business seivices is your 

line ofbusiness. What is it you guys do? What is 

- PHILIP?- We're in the telecommunication 

24 industly. 

25 RONNIE: So I would -- like, ifI want to do a 

8 

1 conference meeting. you would set that up for me? That's 

2 how, I'm asswning? 

3 PHILIP- Yeah, mm-hmm. 

4 RONNIE: Okay. cool. How do yon get your 

s customers? 

6 PHILIP- They come to us. 

7 RONNIE: All light, nice. Well, you have ten 

8 inquilies. Typically that means, like I was telling you, 

9 businesses you're more tl1an likely working with purchased 

10 a copy ofyour company credit report. They spend up to 

11 188 bucks to look at your financial reswne. 

12 PHILIP- Yeah. Apparently something bad 

13 is on there. 

14 RONNIE: Okay. Why do you say that? What's 

15 going on? 

16 PHILIP- Well, because -- because they 

17 said after looking at om Thill & Bradstreet they wouldn't 

18 give us the credit. We have to give them cash to cover 

19 our--

20 RONNIE: Okay. Okay. 

21 PHILIP- I need to know what's wrong on 

22 there so I can fix it. 

23 RONN~ . 

24 PHILIP- And that's why I'm calling you. 

25 

2 (Pages 5 to 8) 

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FTC-00008800 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/12/2019 



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For The Record, Inc. 

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In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 13, 2019 

FTC-00009300 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC Exhibit D 
FTC-00009300 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 



 OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING 

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 





 MATTER NO. 1723196 



TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 



 DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 7, 2019 



 PAGES 1 THROUGH 26 





 FTC-00009300 





















 For The Record, Inc. 

 (301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009300 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on January 

 30, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009300 

 NICOLE MOORE: Dun & Bradstreet. This is 

 Nicole. How can I assist you? 

 RHONDA Nicole, my name’s Rhonda 

 and I have a -- a Dun & Bradstreet number, and 

 someone’s reported that I’m $1,000 late on a bill for the 

 month of -- month of December. 

 NICOLE MOORE: Okay. 

 RHONDA I pay $18 million worth of 

 bills a year --

 NICOLE MOORE: Mm-hmm. 

 RHONDA -- and this $1,000 bill, I 

 don’t know who it is, I need to find out so we can get it 

 corrected. 

 NICOLE MOORE: Okay. All right. Give me one 

 second here --

 RHONDA How do I go about finding it 

 out? 

 NICOLE MOORE: Well, let’s go over your account 

 here. What’s your DUNS number that’s at the top of that 

 notification? 

 RHONDA One -- 10 --

 NICOLE MOORE: Your DUNS number -- oop, okay. 

 3DJHV  WR 

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Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 



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(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 13, 2019 

FTC-00008997 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 

FTC Exhibit E 
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FTC-00008997 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 7, 2019 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 9

 FTC-00008997

 For The Record, Inc.

 (301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00008997 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on January 

 30, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00008997 

 JIM: Dun & Bradstreet. All calls are 

 recorded. This is Jim. 

 MICHAEL Jeff [sic], this is Michael 

 , DUNS Number 



 JIM: Just give me a second or two to pull up 

 your report. I guess in the meantime, how familiar are 

 you with Dun & Bradstreet, like who we are and what we 

 do? 

 MICHAEL Pretty much. 

 JIM: Okay. I have it. And what prompted your 

 call today? 

 MICHAEL Okay, I got a letter from you 

 guys that’s saying that we have a low delinquency 

 predictor score. I’m very unhappy about that. We pay 

 all our bills on time without fail forever. And, so, why 

 you’re coming up with this number, I don’t know. I don’t 

 like the fact that if anybody checks on us they’re going 

 to see this. It needs fixed. 

 JIM: Okay. Well, I’ll be happy to help you 

 with that. So let me look. Yeah, your payment behavior 

 is really good. The issue is -- is there’s just not a 

 3DJHV  WR 

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FTC-00008997 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 



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FTC-00008997 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 



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For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

FTC-00009741 

April 20, 2020 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 

FTC Exhibit F 
- FTC-00009741 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: APRIL 20, 2020 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 21

 FTC-00009741 ( 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009741 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 

 Date Unknown 







 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on April 9, 

 2020. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009741 

 PETER: Hello. 

 NICKI: Hi, is this Peter? 

 PETER: Yes, it is. 

 NICKI: Hi, this is Nicki with Dun & Bradstreet 

 on a recorded line. 

 PETER: Yes. 

 NICKI: All right. So what are you trying to 

 get done? 

 PETER: I’m trying to establish credit in the 

 company. We have decent revenue, we have 30 probably 

 vendors we pay every month, and I realized we’re not 

 establishing any credit. So I wanted to figure out how 

 -- what’s the best process to do that. We’ve acquired a 

 couple companies so I’m just trying to figure out what 

 our steps are to get our holding company to establish 

 credit. 

 NICKI: Absolutely. So I can definitely help 

 you with that. Now, is the holding company -- which I 

 may be looking at something totally different. But 

 attached to your phone number, there is a business by the 

 name of . Is that the one that 

 you’re referring to? 

 3DJHV  WR 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
FTC-00009741-

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

5 

PETER: No, that's another company I own. 

2 NICKI: Okay. So which one ru:e we talking 

3 about here? 

4 

5 

--P TER: Whatl'm -·1 todo -- it'scalled 1111 -- 6 NICKI: okay. 

7 PETER: Yeah. 

8 NICKI: It sow1ds like you're used to saying 

9 the website ona regular basis. 

10 PETER: Yeah, yeah. 

11 NICKI: All right. And then what state is the 

12 holdings company in? 

13 PETER: It's in 

14 NICKI: In 

15 at, too? 

16 PETER: Yes. 

17 NICKI: Okay. That's a trice area to be. I'm 

18 in Tucson. Arizona --

19 PETER: Oh. nice. 

20 NICKI: -- in the dese1i. 

21 PETER: That's not bad. 

22 NICKI: Yeah. It' s not bad because we do get 

23 the warm weather in the winter ■-■- 24 

25 ■■---- PETER: Yeah So -- . 

6 

1 NICKI: -- it's u.nfortlmate. What city in 

2 is it? 

3 PETER: - · I have an EIN number from 

4 some -- does that help? 

5 NICKI: Do you have the Dun & Bradstreet 

6 number? 

7 PETER: I don't have one yet I don't believe. 

8 NICKI: Okay, all right. So we may have to 

9 generate it. So what are the businesses that fall 

10 underneath the holdings? 

11 PETER: I have -- let me see. I have --

12 they're all on ••_..own all ofthem and --

13 but they 're just 1cbtlous. 1ey're DBAs. 

14 NICKI: Okay. 

15 PETER: Andl own like seven schools. 

16 NICKI: Oh. like elementary schools or --

17 PETER: Oh, preschools. I own two18 schools arid then I owe one, two, three, four Immersion 

19 schools for (inaudible). 

20 NICKI: Wow. 

21 PETER: Oh, yeah. We're opening another one 

22 m--

23 NICKI: That's atnazing. 

24 PETER: -- well, a seventh location in August. 

25 NICKI: Wow, congratulations. That's awesome. 

7 

1 PETER: Yeah. 

2 NICKI: Yeah, I have two -- Ihaveihree kids, 

3 but two smaller ones. I have a three-year-old, so 

4 preschool age, and then a one-year-old. 

5 PETER: Okay, okay. 

6 NICKI: Yeah. So fortlmately. my mother-in-law 

7 does a lot ofthe babysitting for me while I'm at work. 

8 But I am looking for a preschool. 

9 PETER: Huh. Well, you -- I'm Slll'e -- well. 

10 - • you looked that up first, we're the 

11 distributors for for schools. 

12 NICKI: Oh. okay. 

13 PETER: Have you seen- ? Ha:ve you guys 

14 used tha~? 

15 NICKI: No, I'mgoing to Google it right now. 

16 What is it called? 

17 PETER: 

18 NICKI: 

19 PETER: Yeah. 

20 NICKI: Okay. Yeah. I'm going to -- and does 

21 that reach all the way out to Al·izona? 

22 PETER: Oh, yeah, it's a website for kids ages 

23 two to eight. 

24 NICKI: Oh. 

25 PETER: And it's a (inaudible) program. You've 

8 

1 probably seen it on TV. It's on TV like a hundred times 

2 a day on Spront, Super Y, Disney. and --

3 NICKI: Yeah. 

4 PETER: -- Nickelodeon. 

s NICKI: Yeah, I've seeμ this. 

6 PETER: That kind ofstuff, yeah. That's -­

7 NICKI: You said that you --

8 PETER: Yeah,_ , my first company that 

9 you brought up, that -- we distribute -- we have 11,000 

10 schools using that throughout the United States. 

11 NICKI: That is amazing. That is really quite 

12 -- I'm actually going to copy this down and show it to my 

13 son because he's so into like electronics and TV and, you 

14 know good thing for him, he really likes the learning 

15 stuffand the learning songs and stuff like that. But --

16 PETER: Yeah, there's so much (inaudible). 

17 They get their own --

18 NICKI: -- there' s so much out there. 

19 PETER: Yeah, they get their own avatar, they 

20 get all the biomes. They tt·avel the world. So -- and 

21 it's all 100 percent educational. There's no popups. 

22 there's no ads. there's no markup. You know. most games. 

23 you know, websites. you know, they fly to sell you 

24 something once you ah'eady bought it. 

25 NICKI: Yeah. 

2 (Pages 5 to 8) 

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9 

1 PETER: Yeah. You know, there's no -- there's 

2 no selling -- selling up or anything like that. 

3 NICKI: Yeah. I'm going to -- I'mactually 

4 pulling it up on my phone, too, so that I have it when I 

5 get home. That is really cool. 

6 PETER: Yeah. yeah. 

7 NICKI: Okay. 

8 PETER: We're on iTm1es and Anch-oicl, all the 

9 Google Play store, eve1ything. 

10 NICKI: Okay, cool. Yeah, I'm going to go on 

11 it. All right. need to get a number 

12 generated for__. 

13 PETER: Okay. 

14 NICKI: And it'sllllike a - egg. 

15 right? 

16 PETER: C01Tect, yeah,_ , yes. 

17 NICKI:Oka~ 18 PETER: It's . 

19 NICKI: Okay. An t en w at I'm doing now is 

20 I'm loading your other business. So I'm going to pull up 

21 that credit infonnation. TI1is way, we can compare and 

22 see like ifthe address is going to be the same and I can 

23 just copy and paste a lot ofit. Which is it - is this 

24 business at--Road? 

25 PET~ old, yeah. 

10 

1 NICKI: Oh. okay. 

2 PETER: Yeah. 

3 NICKI: So what's your new address or current? 

4 

5 

PETER: Our address -- our current address is

6 - NICKI: 

- Okay. 

7 PETER: And it's- -­

8 NICKI: ~ 

9 PETER: ""'=all

10 NICKI: Ok_ . 

11 PETER: -- - just an NW --

12 NICKI: Uh-huh. 

13 PETER: -- and then Suite. 

14 NICKI: Okay. 

15 

16 

PETER: And it's___ 

NICKI: Okay. ■ -- you said. 

17 PETER: Yeah,_ 

18 NICKI: Okay, perfect. All right. And you are 

19 100 percent owner or do you have business pattners? 

20 PETER: I have a partner. I'm ■ 

21 NICKI: Okay. So \Ve list your partner, too, or 

22 is it okayjust to have your nrune for now? 

23 PETER: Yeah. mine for now because he's silent. 

24 NICKI: Okay, okay, perfect. And how many 

25 employees do you have? 

11 

1 PETER: 250. 

2 NICKI: Okay. So you've definitely grown over 

3 the last few yeru-s. That's amazing. 

4 PETER: Yeah. Well, that -- in this company, 

5 yes, with the schools. 

6 NICKI: Okay. 250. And --

7 

8 

PETER: And this is under..not

9 ..

-

NICKI: Yeah, no, no. no,·no, yeah, under 

10 

11 PETER: Yeah, okay. 

12 NICKI: Yep. I have to -- because there's not 

13 a nwnber in this (inaudible) have to fill in all ofthe 

14 spaces. 

15 PETER: Okay. 

16 NICKI: Yeah. 

17 PETER: Okay. 

18 NICKI: And then what are yom· -- your revenue 

19 per yeru·? Your revenue? 

20 PETER: Let me see. We added some new schools, 

21 so let me (inaudible). 4.8 million. 

22 NICKI: Okay. Oh, yeah, we definitely need to 

23 start showcasing some credit histo1y for yotu· business. 

24 And then I'm sw·e once you use -- you said that you were 

25 opening some new schools, right? 

12 

PETER: Yes. uh-lmh. 

2 NICKI: Okay. Are you projecting that- is 

3 that what's going to make you hit the 4 - 4 million, 

4 4.8? 

5 PETER: Well, we're cull'ently doing 4.8. 

6 NICKI: Okay, okay. So once you open those new 

7 locations, then it's going to grow quite a bit more? 

8 PETER: Yes, yeah, exactly. 

9 NICKI: Okay. Now, as fru· as Dun & Bradstreet 

10 is concerned, you know, I'm going to help you build this 

11 creditrepott and showcase the financial stability ofthe 

12 business. Are you planning on using this number for any 

13 purpose, you know, a bank loan, new vendor accotmts, 

14 customers? 

15 PETER: Nothing -- yeah, butI've had some, you 

16 know, vendors ask us, you know. for a Dun & Bradstreet 

17 nwnber. We acquired these two- schools and, 

18 you know, they were schools that are 15 years old. So 

19 they have a lot ofhistory. 

20 NICKI: Wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that could be 

21 concerning be-cause some ofthe vendors and suppliers that 

22 they're ah'eady dealing v.,ith because -- not saying that 

23 your business is going to fail or anything, but a lot of 

24 times when people buy companies, the percentages ofthat 

25 business succeeding goes down quite a bit, especially new 

3 (Pages 9 to 12) 

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Dun & Bradstreet 

FTC-00009781 

April 20 2020 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

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FTC Exhibit G 
FTC-00009781 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: APRIL 20, 2020 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 27 

FTC-00009781 ( 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009781 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 

 Date Unknown 







 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on April 9, 

 2020. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009781 

 JOSEPH: Hello. Hello. 

 JONATHAN: Yes, Joseph, please. 

 JOSEPH: This is he. 

 JONATHAN: Hey, Joseph. My name is Jonathan. 

 I’m with Dun & Bradstreet on a monitored line, sir. How 

 are you? 

 JOSEPH: Good. 

 JONATHAN: Good. You may have received 

 notification from LegalZoom that we would reach out to 

 you in regards to the DUNS number and the credit report 

 that we’re going to be setting up for the business as 

 part of the process. Did you get that application? 

 JOSEPH: Yeah. No, I haven’t seen it yet, but 

 I understand it’s coming. 

 JONATHAN: Okay, perfect. Are you familiar at 

 all with Dun & Bradstreet, what we are, what we do, where 

 we come into play? 

 JOSEPH: Yes. 

 JONATHAN: Okay. Just so we’re on the same 

 page, can you tell me what your understanding is of what 

 this DUNS number is and how it’s going to be used? 

 JOSEPH: Well, it’s a -- you’re basically going 

 3DJHV  WR 

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FTC-00009781 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

 

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For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921-5555 
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Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/ 2020 

9 

1 JOSEPH: Well, we're just developing several 

2 products at the moment. But no idea exactly. 50,000, 

3 something like that. That's not much. 

4 JONATHAN: I got ya. Starting point, I got ya. 

5 JOSEPH: Okay. 

6 JONATHAN: Now, the company name. was. it 

7 actually accepted by the state yet or was that still in 

8 the planning· process? 

9 JOSEPH: Yes, it-- yes, it was, uh-huh. 

10 JONATHAN: What name was acce ted? 

11 JOSEPH: 

12 

13 

14 JOSEPH: Yes. 

15 JONATHAN: Perfect. Are you going to be doing 

16 business under a~ name? 

17 JOSEPH: ­

18 JONATHAN: Yes. 

19 JOSEPH: Possibility. I've got another idea, 

20 another product that I'm looking at and that has a whole 

21 different name. 

22 JONATHAN: Okay. Did you register any DBAs 

23 with LegalZoom? 

24 JOSEPH: No. Um, a DBA, yes, I did. 

25 JONATHAN: SowhichDBA? 

1 

2 

3 

4 JOSEPH: Cotl'ect. 

5 JONATHAN: And what -- the DBA is doing 

6 business as. 

7 JOSEPH: Cotl'ect. 

8 JONATHAN: So ifyou're going to be doing 

9 business under any other name, what other names did you 

10 get registered? 

11 JOSEPH: The other -- I haven't actually taken 

12 out a DBA with the other name yet. 

13 JONATHAN: Okay. No wo1ries then. We'll just 

14 leave it as is. Now, the line ofbusiness, just so I can 

15 help you understand where this report might come into 

16 play, tell me a little bit more about the business. What 

17 exactly do yon do? 

18 JOSEPH: Well, designing products, just kind of 

19 all over the board. At the moment, I've got one product 

20 that's dealing with coffee. the other one is with a 

21 patrol car. So, you know. the manufacturing, sheet metal 

22 design, plastic injection molding, plastics. So it's 

23 kind of all over the board. 

24 JONATHAN: Okay. 

25 JOSEPH: But I want to pnt it under one 

11 

1 umbrella. 

2 JONATHAN: I got ya. 

3 JOSEPH: I have mechanically -- a mechanical 

4 engineering background for 50 years. 

5 JONATHAN: Nice. 

6 JOSEPH: Just putting it to use here. 

7 Actually, I retired a couple years ago -­

8 JONATHAN: You're developing a -­

9 JOSEPH: -- (inaudible). 

10 JONATHAN: -- product -- tell me about the 

11 product that you're developing for coffee you said. 

12 JOSEPH: Yeah. It's a -- for pow·-over coffee. 

13 It's a tapper type of device for compacting coffee and a 

14 spotter for when they pour - are you familiar with pour15 over coffee? 

16 JONATHAN: Yeah. absolutely. 

17 JOSEPH: A lot ofpeople -- a lot ofpeople do 

18 that. Well, they're missing one key element I just 

19 discovered and that is the coffee needs to be compacted 

20 and a spot in the center for the first pour. 

21 JONATHAN: Okay. 

22 JOSEPH: So I developed a little plastic device 

23 and now I turned it into a stainless steel device that's 

24 basically a compactor. 

25 JONATHAN: Nice. 

12 

1 JOSEPH: Or tapper as they call it. tapper. 

2 JONATHAN: Just -- so you're ttying to get this 

3 tapper into different baristas and things ofthat nature? 

4 JOSEPH: Cotl'ect. 

5 JONATHAN: Gotcha. 

6 JOSEPH: 4.5 million people make pour-over 

7 coffee eve1y day and they're -- they're missing one key 

8 element. This, which makes the coffee slightly stronger. 

9 fuller-body, better coffee. 

10 JONATHAN: Okay, okay. So you have another -­

11 you've already developed this product and now you're in 

12 the manufacturing stage? 

13 JOSEPH: I'mjust -- I'mjustfinishing the 

14 prototyping stage and I just -- I gave it a name. I've 

15 got a flyer how it operates and will be sending it out to 

16 -- I guess more a focus group type ofthing first. get a 

17 response out ofit. 

18 JONATHAN: Absolutely. What's your next step? 

19 JOSEPH: Next step would be to research coffee 

20 fomms online to see where I can get into and get some 

21 exposure and go from there. 

22 JONATHAN: Okay. That's kind ofwhere this 

23 repo1i may come into play. especially ifyou're going to 

24 deal with like -- I'mjust going to use Starbucks for an 

25 example because --

3 (Pages 9 to 12) 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921 -5555 
FTC-00009781 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

 

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FTC Exhibit H 
I 

FTC-00009825 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: APRIL 20, 2020 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 17

 FTC-00009825 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009825 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 

 Date Unknown 







 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on April 9, 

 2020. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009825 

 IGOR: Hello. 

 CHELSEA: Hi, this is Chelsea from Dun & 

 Bradstreet, monitored line. How are you doing today? 

 IGOR: Hi, hello, this is Igor. I just left a 

 message. 

 CHELSEA: Yes, thank you so much for giving me 

 a call. I was assigned to the application that you 

 submitted for the DUNS number. So I just need to go over 

 the information that’s listed here so we can get 

 everything set up for you. 

 IGOR: Okay, great. 

 CHELSEA: All right, wonderful. So before I 

 dive into the application, what was the reason for 

 requesting the DUNS number? 

 IGOR: Well (inaudible) the ratings -- to get a 

 rating started. 

 CHELSEA: Sure. 

 IGOR: So that we could get our -- registered 

 first and then get a rating --

 CHELSEA: Okay. 

 IGOR: -- and a record for our company. 

 CHELSEA: Perfect. I can definitely help you 

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Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

 

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In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

FTC-00009660 

April 20 2020 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC Exhibit I 
I 

FTC-00009660 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: APRIL 20, 2020 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 18 

FTC-00009660 



 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009660 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 

 Date Unknown 







 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on April 9, 

 2020. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009660 

 CHELSEA: Thank you for calling Dun & 

 Bradstreet. All calls are monitored. This is Chelsea. 

 MARK Good morning, Chelsea. My name 

 is Mark I’m returning your call. You left me 

 a voicemail. 

 CHELSEA: Hi. Yeah, thank you so much for 

 giving me a call back. Let me pull up your application. 

 So I was assigned to the application that you submitted 

 for the DUNS number. 

 MARK Yes. 

 CHELSEA: So I just need to review the 

 information listed here so we can get everything set up 

 for you. 

 MARK Thank you. 

 CHELSEA: Okay, you’re welcome. So, Mark, you 

 are the CEO of the company. Is that correct? 

 MARK Yes, I am. 

 CHELSEA: Okay. Is there anyone else that 

 should be listed on file or would it just be yourself? 

 MARK Not today, maybe in a few 

 months. But as of right now --

 CHELSEA: Okay. 

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-

11 

FTC-00009660 

Dun & Bradstreet 4/20/2020 

9 

1 MARK--And ifreqi.w·ed, I can also put 

2 you guys in to~accountant3 CHELS 

4 MARK-- ~ -that's been doing my books 

5 for personal stufffor like the last 20 years. So -

6 CHELSEA: Awesome. 

7 MARK- Okay, great. Yeah. because I 

8 was going to say, you don't always have to have like 

9 credit cards and revolving lines ofcredit, things of 

10 that nature to build up your repo1t. Even like with your 

11 accountant that you have, ifyou're paying for a web 

12 domain. That could also be a good expense to have added 

13 into your report to help build --

14 MARK- Okay. 15 CHELSEA: -- and impact your scores and 

16 ratings. And then ifyou ever need any credit, then it 

17 will help with your credit recommendation as well and 

18 companies can use that as a guide to detemw1e how much 

19 credit to extend to you. But itsounds like it's more so 

20 a service-based business. So I'msure that your expenses 

21 will stay fairly minimal. Sound about right? 

22 MARK- Yep, yep. 

23 CHELSEA: All right, perfect. 

24 MARK- I mean, at least for the

25 foreseeable future, you know, unless a big opportunity 

comes in and then I'll have to go get a line ofcredit -­

2 CHELSEA: Sure. 

3 MARK- -- to kind ofinvest and -- I 

4 don't see that happening like in the next three to six 

5 months. 

6 CHELSEA: Sure. Okay, perfect. So we'll make 

7 sure you get set up now, so that way when the time does 

8 come, you'll already be squared away with that and you're 

9 not having to scramble last niinute to get all that 

10 infonna.tion together. So that's peifect. 

11 So as you're making expenses. even cash 

12 expei1Ses. let me know who you're making payments to so 

13 that way we can startsubmitting that into the repo11,so 

14 that when these customers are looking at your repo11 or 

15 ifa bank or a vendor is looking, they're able to see 

16 that information and you're not sho\.\ii.ng that you're 

17 basicallyjust at a standstill with the business. They 

18 can see that you're actively doing business and making 

19 payments on time and you are financially stable and a 

20 credible company to get involved with. 

21 MARK- Okay. 

22 CHELSEA: Okay. perfect. So what is yom 

23 proj ection for revenue for this year? 

24 MARK.- For the balance ofthe year, I

25 project about $250.000. 

1 CHELSEA: Okay, all right. All right And 

2 then munber ofemployees I have listed is one. So if 

3 that changes, thenjust let me know. We can always get 

4 that updated foiil! ou. 

5 MARK Okay. 

6 CHELSEA: An e address is 

7 - - Is that the registered 

8 address? 

9 MARK- Co1Tect. 

10 CHELSEA: Okay, perfect. And is this the best 

11 number to have listed on file as well? 

12 MARK--Yes. 

13 CHELS~ wesome. All right And then 

14 your email will 

15 MARK Yep. 

16 CHELSEA: Is 1at the email that you would like 

17 everytliing set~ some. 

18 MARK--Yep. 

19 CHELSEA: All right. perfect So the 

20 application that you submitted, typically itwould take 

21 up to 30 business days to receive, but what happens is it 

22 does leave the file incomplete. So you wouldn't yet 

23 qualify for all seven scores and ratings that are 

24 attached to the DUNS number. So since you're using this 

25 for commercial plUposes - and that's one reason, we want 

12 

to make sure at the ve1y1ninimumyou do have that 

2 completed repo11. 

3 So we will initiate a background check. We 

4 don't need any legal docwnents from you. We'11 get all 

5 ofthat squared away over hei·e. And then within three to 

6 five business days, once you confumthe company was 

7 registered and ifthei·e's been any lawsuits or 

8 bankruptcies, we complete your file for the lifetime of 

9 the company. Typically, we stait yotu· scores and ratings 

10 in the mid-range and we assign a credit recommendation 

11 right from the start. So feel free to hand out the DUNS 

12 numbei· to the potential clients that you may have. And. 

13 again, witlw1three to six months, whenever you may be 

14 needing to seek some sort offunding or credit, you'll 

15 have that established already. 

16 MARK- So - sony. 

17 CHELSEA: (Inaudible) 

18 MARK- While you're doing all ofthat, 

19 so am I allowed to let potential clients know that the 

20 process is underway? Tiiat I've been given a number, but 

21 the backgrolUld checks are still unde1way? Can I - 01· 

22 should I not even mention tl1at I -- tl1af I have a mm1ber? 

23 CHELSEA: So you won't -- when yon receive the 

24 DUNS munber. the file will be completed. So you won't 

25 have to --

3 (Pages 9 to 12) 

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For The Record, Inc. 

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In the Matter of: 

Dun & Bradstreet 

February 13, 2019 

FTC-00009577 

Condensed Transcript with Word Index 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC Exhibit J 
-

FTC-00009577 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/13/2019 

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT PROCEEDING

 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

MATTER NO. 1723196 

TITLE DUN & BRADSTREET 

DATE RECORDED: DATE UNKNOWN

 TRANSCRIBED: FEBRUARY 11, 2019 

PAGES 1 THROUGH 26

 FTC-00009577

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 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

 I N D E X 



 RECORDING: PAGE: 

 FTC-00009577 4 











































 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 



 In the Matter of: ) 

 Dun & Bradstreet ) Matter No. 1723196 

 ) 

 ------------------------------) 









 The following transcript was produced from a 

 digital file provided to For The Record, Inc. on 

 January 31, 2019. 



























 P R O C E E D I N G S 

 - - - - -

 FTC-00009577 

 DAN Dan. 

 PETREA DICKINSON: Hi, this is Petrea 

 Dickinson (phonetic) with Dun & Bradstreet on a 

 monitored line. Did you say this is Dan? 

 DAN This is Dan. How are you? 

 PETREA DICKINSON: Doing great, Dan. How 

 are you doing? 

 DAN Good, good. Thanks for the 

 call. 

 PETREA DICKINSON: Absolutely. I just 

 wanted to give you a call so I could better assist 

 you. Could I get your title? 

 DAN Yeah, sure. So I’m the 

 chief operations officer. 

 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. And what’s going 

 on exactly? What brings you to chat? 

 DAN So we are getting ramped up 

 -- out of the last year, we’ve been primarily, 

 and we’ve just kind of entered the wholesale and 

 retail market, and we had a great summer, great shows, 

 a lot of press behind our brand, et cetera, et cetera. 

 So, naturally, this has created kind of a demand for 

 3DJHV  WR 

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FTC-00009577 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 13/2019 

5 

1 our product no,..,•. And we're getting set up with some 

2 new accounts, for instance, like Neiman Marcus last 

3 call, and we're in the process ofgetting everything 

4 set up for■ ptuposes. 

5 PETREA DICKINSON: Mm-hmm. 

6 DAN And one oftheir requests 

7 was -- I just received an email earlier from the 

8 implementation team over at and they 

9 were asking that, you know, we can complete your setup 

10 once we receive the following infonnation from you, 

11 which is basically your DUNS number. I don't believe 

12 we ever set one up, so I know a little bit about DUNS. 

13 I just -- we never set it up. I didn't know ifit was 

14 standard or needed to be done for every single, you 

15 know, corporation or company in the world, but maybe 

16 you can better assist me. 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: Absolutely. I can 

18 definitely help you with that. Dan. How familiar are 

19 you with your DUNS number and how other companies 

20 usually use it? 

21 DAN--I know it's pretty much a 

22 miique nine~ at identifies yom· 

23 businesses. That's pretty much -- I think ifs got 

24 something to do with your credit file as well, but 

25 that_'s about all I know for DUNS. 

6 

l PETREA DICKINSON: That's exactly right, 

2 Dan. So it's attached to your compa11y's credit 

3 report, and this is usually where other companies are 

4 going to come when they want to do either a. background 

5 or a credit check on the business. 

6 DAN Oh, okay. So it's a credit 

7 - so you can -- so you can actually 11111 credit 

8 reports ifyou're looking to work with somebody? 

9 PETREA DICKINSON: Exactly, yep, and do a 

10 risk assessment, make sure that they're paying their 

11 bills on time, that there's nothing risky about doing 

12 business with them,. like a bankruptcy or a lien or 

13 sometliing like that. 

14 DAN Oh. interesting. Okay. all 

15 right. That makes sense. 

16 PETREA DICKINSON: So ifyou're ttying to 

17 set up ■ with -- are these customers that you're 

18 trying to do that with? 

19 DAN Yeah, they're customers. 

20 This is all -- I mean, so we're -- we're inretail. 

21 We're nationwide in a few stores. However, we did, 

22 you know. paper i:ase orders, and just now they.'re 

23 finally requesting- and then we just picked up a 

24 new customer; Ne111lfil1 Mru·cus. They're requesting. 

25 So. you know, this is probably good that it happened 

7 

1 now because I would have needed to do it at some point 

2 or another anyvvay. 

3 PETREA DICKINSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

4 So we'll make sure that we get you set up the right 

5 way so that Neiman Marcus and anybody else who looks 

6 sees that you're a credible company and. you know. 

7 safe to do business with. 

8 DAN- Absolutely. 

9 PETREA DICKINSON: So let me justdo a quick 

10 search to make stu·e you don' t already have a DUNS 

11 number, Dan. What's the name ofthe company? 

12 Okay. So the IRS name is 

13 ~ lyit'sllllwithanl 

14 in front ofit, li.kelll 

15 

17 

16 ~~PETREA ~-DICKINSON: Okay. And what state are 

18 you located in? 

19 

20 

DAN~ 

registered c~ 

Wearein- andwe'rea 

tate 0£111111 __ _ 21 PETREA All right, perfect Are 

22 youin 

23 DAN That's -- no, that was --

24 ru·e you finding the old address,_ 

25 PETREA DICKINSON: Let me just tty --

8 

1 

2 

DAN

--

We'reinWe moved into tliat offic.e in 

3 May. 

4 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay, so this one is on 

5 

6 Yeah, that's -- that's no 

7 longer -- that's -- t at's not the con-ect one 

8 anymore. Do you have the capability of changing that? 

9 PETREA DICKINSON: Absolutely. We' ll get 

10 eve1ything all up-to-date and make sure that we get 

11 the report completed. It looks like you've ah·eady 

12 had eight inquiries, so other companies, you know, 

13 that have already requested a copy ofthe report from 

14 us. 

15 DAN Hnun, okay. 

16 PETREA DICKINSON: So it's definitely good 

17 timing that you reached out to us today so that we can 

18 make sure we get it completed and everything is 

19 accurate an~ 

20 DAN--For sme. 

21 PETREA DICKINSON: So I know you said we 

22 need to update the address. And, then, what yeru· did 

23 the compa11Wi.l! tart? 

24 DAN So the company was 

25 established 1112015, ut we came to 1llfil·ket last 

2 (Pages 5 to 8) 

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FTC-00009577 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 13/2019 

9 

1 August. 

2 PETREADICKINSON: Oh, wow, congratulations. 

3 DAN- Thank you, thank you. Well, 

4 actually -- yeah, we came to -- when I sa ' we catne to 

5 market. we took our -- our website live. 

6 August.___, 

7 

8 --■PETREA DICKINSON ·· · : Wow, that's fantastic. 

9 And what are you selling exactly? 

10 DAN So ifyou go to 

11 we ·es lin -- we're - we're shoes. 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 PETREA DICKINSON: Oh, wow. Vetynice. So 

21 comfortable. 

22 DAN- Ve1y comfo1iable, 

23 absolutely. 

24 PETREA DICKINSON: Very nice. 

25 DAN- Mm-hmm. 

10 

1 PETREA DICKINSON: All right. So let me 

2 just run through here. How many cun-ent employees do 

3 you have, Dan? 

4 DAN---Okay, so employees as in 

5 like W-2 em~ewe have some independent 

6 contractors, like 1099 sale reps, so they' re not 

7 considered. I'm an employee; my partner. So really 

8 just -- I meru1 -- I mean, you tell me how I ru1swer 

9 this question best for the profile. 

10 PETREA DICKINSON: Well, it sounds like two, 

11 ru1d then howiili n 1099 employees do you have? 

12 DAN Yeah. so we have -- so if 

13 yon're justloo ng or overall, so we have one, four 

14 -- about nine employees. 

15 PETREA DICKINSON: All right. And it looks 

16 like -- let's se.e, what are you projecting in sales 

17 for2018? 

18 DAN So for 2018, I believe we're 

19 projecting around half a million dollars. And you 

20 know what, give me a second, I -- I could be v..-i:ong on 

21 that. Hold on. 

22 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. 

23 Yeah. keep that. Keep that, because for --

24 for 2020, yeah, we -- we have projections for 2019 as 

25 well. So keep it at about half a million for -- for 

11 

1 this year. 

2 PETREADICKINSON: Halfa. 1nillion, okay. 

3 And it smmds like you are projected to grow. What 

4 areyouproj~ 

5 DAN--- Yes. 2019, we're projecting 

6 1.3. 

7 PETREADICKINSON: That's fantastic. All 

8 right. And, so, the customers that ru-e asking you to 

9 have the DUNS number, most ofthe time theyjust want 

10 to see that, you know, you're -- you're credible, that 

11 you're --

12 DAN Mm-hmm. 

13 PETREADICKINSON: -- not (inaudible). You 

14 have seven scores ru1d ratings behind that DUNS muuber. 

15 Wejust need to make sure that --

16 DAN Okay. 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: -- we get some financial 

18 strength into the file so that --

19 DAN Okay. 

20 PETREADICKINSON: -- they cru1 see that. 

21 Now22 DAN Okay. 

23 PETREADICKINSON: -- with customers like 

24 Neiman Mru·cus, how much business are you typically 

25 doing with them, Dan? 

12 

1 DAN--- So, I meru1. these are -­

2 these are all~ to start. so, you know, 

3 we're in the range from, you know, $30,000 to $50.000 

4 orders to start. 

5 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. All1·ight, so we 

6 definitely need --

7 DAN And that would be tl1e same 

8 (inaudible) --

9 PETREA DICKINSON: Go ahead. 

10 DAN -- no, no, go al1ead. I'm 

11 sony. 

12 PETREA DICKINSON: Well, I was just saying 

13 we definitely need to make sure that they see that, 

14 you know, they're not going to have empty shelfspace 

15 or you're not going to miss an order, anything like 

16 that. 

17 DAN Right. So this inf01matio11 

18 you're asking me, is this like -- what --where -- are 

19 yon plugging this into ow- profile nowand then, what, 

20 companies can see this or something like that? How 

21 does this work? 

22 PETREA DICKINSON: So we would never put 

23 ru1ything about your customers or your vendors in the 

24 report --

25 DAN Right. 

3 (Pages 9 to 12) 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC-000095 77 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 13/ 2019 

13 

1 PETREA DICKINSON: -- but what we do need to 

2 do is get some payment history updated here -­

3 DAN- Mm-hmm. 

4 PETREA DICKINSON: -- because that's one of 

5 the main driving forces behind your scores and 

6 ratings. 

7 DAN- Sure. 

8 PETREA DICKINSON: (Inaudible) bills youpay 

9 and how well you pay them. 

10 DAN- Sure. 

11 PETREA DICKINSON: About how much would you 

12 say that you're spending in operating costs, just ball 

13 park, in a given month? 

14 DAN- Ball park in a given month, 

15 btun rate, is -- and I have this pulled up -- we are 

16 somewhere around $20-, $25,000. 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. So the problem 

18 right now, Dan, with your report is with business 

19 credit, those companies, they're not required by law 

20 to automatically report that info1mation --

21 DAN- Mm-hmm. 

22 PETREA DICKINSON: - and they usually 

23 don't. 

24 DAN- Hmm. 

25 PETREA DICKINSON: So we don't have that 

14 

1 , that financial strength --

2 Sure. 

3 PET s N: -- in your file. 

4 DAN Sure. 

5 PETREA DICKINSON: So what we need to do is 

6 set you up so that you can start repo11ing the names 

7 ofthose co~ n what we do on our part --

8 DAN Okay. 

9 PETREA DICKINSON: -- is reach out to them, 

10 contact them, confum that payment history going back 

11 one full year ifwe can --

12 DAN Okay. okay. 

13 PETREA DICKINSON: -- so we can staJt to 

14 move the scores and ratin sin a positive direction. 

15 DAN Okay. So I imagine -- am I 

16 going to have to create an online profile? 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: So we're going to send 

18 you the linkiiiliiiii 

19 DAN Okay. 

20 PETREA DICKINSON: -- along with yom 

21 receipt. Now, about --

22 DAN Okay. 

23 PET N: -- how many vendors is 

24 that 20- to 25,000 spread out between? Is it 5, 25, 

25 105? 

15 

1 No, no. Like for instance, 

2 we're in nationwide, and they paid us, 

3 I th.ink it was $114,000 in the last six months for our 

4 goods th.at we delivered to them So, I mean, we -- we 

5 have payment histoty , for sure. I mean, countly 

6 dubs, yacht clubs, other vendors, et cetera. 

7 So, I mean, it's just a matter ofhow do I 

8 show that and how do we strengthen this, and then 

9 also, how do I get the Dun & Bradstreet -- you know, 

10 how do I get a DUNS number. expedited? I guess I have 

11 to go through this entire process in order to get that 

12 done first? 

13 PETREA DICKINSON: So you actually already 

14 have the DUNS munber. It' s just that it's attached to 

15 an incomplete credit file. 

16 DAN Okay. 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: So what we need to do is 

18 get you set up so that you get a completed repo11. 

19 That's just going to mean that we confirm operations, 

20 make s1u·e there are no lawsuits, liens, judgments --

21 DAN Yep, yep. 

22 PETREA DICKINSON: -- bankruptcies. And you 

23 don't have ~ 

24 DAN--Mm-hmm. 

25 PETREA DICKINSON: -- like that, right? 

16 

1 DAN- No, nothing like that, nope. 

2 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. So and then we'll 

3 set you up so that you can add in the names ofthose 

4 suppliers so we can help you start to build the 

5 credit. 

6 DAN- Okay. How soon can I get my 

7 DUNS nlllllber? 

8 PETREA DICKINSON: So I'm going to give you 

9 your DUNS number here, and --

10 DAN- Okay. 

11 PETREA DICKINSON: -- I'm also going to send 

12 you out the links and logins so that you'll -­

13 DAN- Great. 

14 PETREA DICKINSON: - be able to log in to 

15 your profile, monitor all your scores. 

16 DAN- Perfect. Awesome. 

17 PETREA DICKINSON: You'll be.able to see by 

18 industJy who looks at the report. So you '11 be able 

19 to control all ofthat moving fo1ward. 

20 DAN- All 1ight, perfect. I am 

21 ready for that when you are. I'll write it down and 

22 then you can send me an email like you said. That -­

23 that's great. too. 

24 PETREA DICKINSON: Absolutely. So yom DUNS 

25 number is going to be4 (Pages 13 to 16) 

For The Record, Inc. 

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FTC-000095 77 

Dun & Bradstreet 2/ 13/ 2019 

17 

1 I'm going to read that back 

2 to you. 

3 PETREA DICKINSON: Con-ect. That'll be your 

4 DUNS number for the life ofthe business. 

5 DAN Okay, very cool. 

6 PETREADICKINSON: And then you can justlet 

7 your customers who are asking for it. justlet them 

8 know that you're working with Dun & Bradstreet and 

9 we're working to get it completed and to get some 

10 financial str~ le. 

11 DAN--Okay. 

12 PETREA DICKINSON: So what we'll do is we'll 

13 set you up on the entty-level service. It's only 

14 $1,499, and it's going to complete your report for the 

15 life oftl1e business. What email address amI going 

16 to be sendin our links to, Dan? 

17 DAN Oka . it's the one that I 

18 gave you, th . And then 

19 that -- what 1 you say 1t was, 1,400 or 1,499? 

20 PETREA DICKINSON: Yes, sir. 

21 DAN--That -- what is that, that's 

22 a-- ayearly~ 

23 PETREA DICKINSON: Con-ect, and it's going 

24 to complete yourrepo1t for the lifetime ofthe 

25 business. 

18 

1 Completes itfor lifetime of 

2 the business. Oh, so is this really only a one-time 

3 fee? 

4 PETREADICKINSON: You do11't have to do it 

5 eve1y single year, butwe do recommend that you do it 

6 at least eveiy two years. After that, the infonuation 

7 becomes outdated. 

8 DAN All right, so ba~ically 

9 update eve1y 24 months ifyou want to stay cwrent. 

10 All right. Okay, yeah, send me all those links. This 

11 way I can get this all set up, and I in1agine there's a 

12 payment link and all that good stuff, right? 

13 PETREADICKINSON: So, yeah, once we process 

14 the payment, I'll sendvou out the links. 

15 DAN Okay. 

16 PETRE S N: And then --

17 DAN Oh, so you guys got to take 

18 the payment first. I got you. 

19 PETREADICKINSON: Right, and we can use a 

20 Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover. 

21 Usually, I just use the one that's going to give you 

22 the most points. Which one is that? 

23 DAN-- Okay, okay. Give me a 

24 second. Let~ t me get my wallet. I'm 

25 going to put you on hold for a minute, okay? 

19 

1 PETREA DICKINSON: Okay. 

2 (Brief hold.) 

3 DAN Okay, you with me? 

4 PETREA DICKINSON: Yes, sir. 

5 DAN- Okay. All right. so this is 

6 going to be an Amencan Express. 

7 PETREA DICKINSON: And, no, I do not need 

8 that CN code. So you're going to get some links from 

9 -- or some emails, excuse me, fromus right away. 

10 DAN- Okay. 

11 PETREADICKINSON: You're going to get your 

12 receipt that you're going to want to save that for tax 

13 ptuposes. 

14 DAN-Yep. 

15 PETREA DICKINSON: And your login. And, 

16 then, the service is set to m1tomatically renew next 

17 year at the then-ctm·ent price. You're also going to 

18 get about 160 free legal documents from our partners 

19 at LegalZoom that you can use for the business ifyou 

20 want. 

21 DAN- Okay. 

22 PETREA DICKINSON: There is a -­

23 DAN- Okay. 

24 PETREA DICKINSON: Go ahead. Did you have a 

25 question? 

20 

1 DAN No, no. go ahead. No. I'll 

2 -- I'll wait until you're done (inaudible). 

3 PETREADICKINSON: Okay, all right. So 

4 there's a one-time activation fee. It's $149, and 

5 then I would just need your pemlission to charge your 

6 American Express ending in XXXX for the CreditBuilder 

7 Plus, plus an~ te tax. 

8 DAN-- Okay. I got you. So I'1u in 

9 sales, too. I said -- shame on me, I should have 

10 asked that up front. So one. the $1,500, I know I 

11 asked you earlier, you said it completes you for the 

12 lifetime ofthe business, you don't have to update it 

13 but you mentioned that it then automatically renews 

14 next year for that $1,500 price. 

15 PETREADICKINSON: It is set -- yeah, all 

16 the services are set to automatically renew. Did you 

17 want me to --

18 DAN Okay, does that -- is 

19 that -- so ifit doesn't renew, that's -- so what I'm 

20 getting at is what am I paying the $1,500 for every 

21 year ifI don't have to update it eve1y year? So what 

22 -- do you get what I'm saying? 

23 PETREA DICKINSON: I do. So, yeah, so 

24 the -- the issue is the payment histo1y falls off 

25 eve1y two years --

5 (Pages 17 to 20) 

For The Record, Inc. 

(301) 870-8025 - www.ftrinc.net - (800) 921 -5555 
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1723196 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

BEFORE THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

COMMISSIONERS: Lina M. Khan, Chair 

Noah Joshua Phillips 

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter 

Christine S. Wilson 

In the Matter of 

DUN & BRADSTREET, INC., a corporation, DECISION AND ORDER 

d/b/a D&B. 

DOCKET NO. C-4761

DECISION 

The Federal Trade Commission (“Commission”) initiated an investigation of certain acts and 

practices of the Respondent named in the caption. The Commission’s Bureau of Consumer 

Protection (“BCP”) prepared and furnished to Respondent a draft Complaint. BCP proposed to 

present the draft Complaint to the Commission for its consideration. If issued by the 

Commission, the draft Complaint would charge the Respondent with violations of the Federal 

Trade Commission Act. 

Respondent and BCP thereafter executed an Agreement Containing Consent Order (“Consent 

Agreement”). The Consent Agreement includes: 1) statements by Respondent that, only for 

purposes of this action, it admits the facts necessary to establish jurisdiction; and 2) waivers and 

other provisions as required by the Commission’s Rules. 

The Commission considered the matter and determined that it had reason to believe that 

Respondent has violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, and that a Complaint should issue 

stating its charges in that respect. The Commission accepted the executed Consent Agreement 

and placed it on the public record for a period of 30 days for the receipt and consideration of 

public comments. The Commission duly considered any comments received from interested 

persons pursuant to Section 2.34 of its Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.34. Now, in further conformity with 

the procedure prescribed in Rule 2.34, the Commission issues its Complaint, makes the 

following Findings, and issues the following Order: 

Page 1 of 20 
Findings 

I. The Respondent is Dun & Bradstreet, Inc .• also doing business as D&B, a Delaware 

corporation with its principal office or place of business at IO1 John F. Kennedy 

Parkway, Short Hills, NJ 07078. 

2. The Commission has jurisdiction over the subject matter ofthis proceeding and over the 

Respondent. and the proceeding is in the public interest. 

ORDER 

Definitions 

For purposes ofthis Order, the following definitions apply: 

A. ''Billing Information" means any data that enables any person to access a customer's 

account. such as a credit card, checking. savings, share or similar account, or debit card. 

B. '·Business" means any business or other entity. including nonprofits, cities, counties. 

municipalities, and other governmental entities. 

C. "Charge,'" "Charged," or "Charging'' means any attempt to collect money or other 

consideration from a consumer. including causing Billing Information to be submitted for 

payment, including against the consumer' s credit card, debit card, bank account, 

telephone bill, or other account. 

D. "Clearly and Conspicuously" means that a required disclosure is difficult to miss (i.e., 

easily noticeable) and easily understandable by ordinary consumers, including in all of 

the following ways: 

I. In any communication that is solely visual or solely audible, the disclosure must be 

made through the same means through which the communication is presented. In any 

communication made through both visual and audible means, such as a television 

advertisement, the discJosure must be presented simultaneously in both the visual and 

audible portions of the communication even ifthe representation requiring the 

disclosure ("triggering representation'') is made through only one means. 

2. A visual disclosure, by its size, contrast. location, the length oftimc it appears. and 

other characteristics, must stand out from any accompanying text or other visual 

elements so that it is easily noticed, read, and understood. 

3. An audible disclosure. including by telephone or streaming video, must be delivered 

in a volume, speed, and cadence sufficient for ordinary consumers to easily hear and 

understand it. 

Page 2 of20 
4. In any communication using an interactive electronic medium, such as the Internet or 

software, the disclosure must be unavoidable. 

5. The disclosure must use diction and syntax understandable to ordinary consumers and 

must appear in each language in which the triggering representation appears. 

6. The disclosure must comply with these requirements in each medium through which 

it is received, including all electronic devices and face-to-face communications. 

7. The disclosure must not be contradicted or mitigated by. or inconsistent with. 

anything else in the communication. 

8. When the representation or sales practice targets a specific audience, such as children, 

the elderly. or the terminally ill, ··ordinary consumers" includes reasonable members 

ofthat group. 

E. ··Covered Producf' means all CreditBuilder Line Products, either sold alone or with 

other products or services as part ofa combined or btmdled package; any product or 

service that includes an option to submit or add the names ofor information about a 

Business's vendors, suppliers. or other entities to that Business's own credit report or 

credit file; and any product or service that Respondent markets to Businesses as being 

designed to allow a Business to monitor its own credit report, including CreditMonitor. 

F. ..CreditBuilder 2018'' means the CreditBuilder '"basic" product in the form that 

Respondent began offering in January 2018 and includes subscriptions with an initial 

purchase date (prior to any renewals) from January 1. 2018 through April 30, 2020. 

G. ··creditMonitor Substitute Product" means a CreditBuilder Line Prnduct to which 

Respondent migrated Businesses that had purchased CreditMonitor, during a period when 

Respondent temporarily stopped offering CreditMonitor. and any subsequent 

CreditBuilder Line Product to which Respondent migrated any such Business. 

H. "CreditBuilder Line Product" means CreditBuilder, CreditBuilder Basic, CreditBuilder 

Plus, CreditBuilder Premium, Credit Essentials, and Credit Essentials Plus. as well as any 

predecessor to, successor to. or variant ofany ofthese products; and includes 

CreditBuilder 2018 as defined above. 

I. ··Current Customer.. includes Businesses that are customers ofRespondent as ofthe 

date ofthe entry ofthis Order, and does not include a Business that first purchased a 

product after the date of the entry ofthis Order. When specifically stated in this Order, 

Current Customer may be further limited to exclude a Business that first purchased a 

product on or after May I. 2020. 

J. "Negative Option Feature" means, in an offer or agreement to sell or provide any 

product or service. a provision under which the consumer's silence or failure to take 

Page 3 of20 
affirmative action to reject a product or service or to cancel the agreement is interpreted 

by the seller or provider as acceptance ofthe offer. 

K. ''Pro Rata Result'" means the dollar figure resulting from applying discount adjustments 

and term adjustments to the figure of$399 for Refund Customers who are Current 

Customers. and to the figure of$480 for Refund Customers who are former customers. 

For a Relevant Subscription Term during which a customer paid a discounted price, the 

discount adjustment shall be a multiplier equal to the price paid divided by the list price 

( e.g., ifa customer paid $800 for a product listed at $ 1,000, the discount adjustment 

multiplier is .8). For a Relevant Subscription Term that is less than a one-year term, the 

term adjustment shall be a multiplier equal to the length ofthe Relevant Subscription 

Term divided by one year (e.g., ifthe Relevant Subscription Tenn is three months, the 

term adjustment multiplier is .25). The effects ofthe adjustment multipliers shall be 

cumulative (multiplied by each other) ifa customer paid a discounted price for a Relevant 

Subscription Term of less than one year. 

L. "Relevant Subscription Term" means the Business's current or most recent 

CreditBuilder Line Product subscription term. 

M. 1'Respondent'' means Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., a corporation, doing business as D&B 

('·D&B"), and its successors and assigns. 

N. ''Trade Reference·· means a source, including a vendor, supplier, or other entity, that 

supplies Respondent (or that a Business represents could supply Respondent) with 

commercial payment information about a Business. 

0. "Trade Reference Acceptance Percentage" means the aggregate calculation ofthe 

number ofall Businesses' submissions ofpayment experiences from Trade References 

that have been added to Businesses' own credit reports or credit files through the 

operation ofany CreditBuilder Line Product, divided by the number ofall Businesses' 

attempted submissions ofpayment experiences from Trade References to be added to 

Businesses' own credit repo11s through any CreditBuilder Line Product, expressed as a 

percentage. The divisor ofthis calculation shall not be reduced for multiple attempted 

submissions by a Business ofa single Trade Reference or a single payment experience, 

nor shall the divisor be reduced for any attempted submissions that Respondent has 

automatically rejected for any reason. 

Provisions 

I. Prohibited Misrepresentations 

IT IS ORDERED that Respondent, and Respondent's officers, agents, employees~ and 

attorneys, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any ofthem. who 1·eceive 

actual notice ofthis Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, in connection with the 

advertising, promotion, offering for sale, or sale of, or the Charging for, any product, must not 

misrepresent, expressly or by implication: 

Page 4 of20 
A. that using any product is likely to allow a Business to have its previously unreported 

commercial payment experiences added to the Business's credit report: 

8. that Respondent will actively assist a Business in adding unreported commercial payment 

experiences to the Business's credit report: 

C. that using any product is likely to help build and/or improve a Business·s credit report; 

D. the ease with which information or payment experiences can be added to or will be 

included on a Business's credit report; 

E. that Respondent will accept identified vendors, suppliers, or other entities as Trade 

References (whether identified by the Business or by Respondent's agents or employees). 

including specifically identified entities. entities comparable to specifically identified 

entities, or specific types or categories ofentities; 

F. that any product is needed for Respondent to initiate or conduct a background check on a 

Business, or to otherwise activate or establish the Business's credit report or credit tile; 

G. that any product will provide a Business with a complete credit report or credit file 

including a full set ofscores and ratings; 

H. that any product with a Negative Option Feature will be Charged at that product's list 

price at the time ofrenewal: 

I. an obligation on the part ofa Business to affirmatively act in order to avoid Charges, 

including where a Charge will be assessed pursuant to the offer unless the consumer takes 

affirmative steps to prevent or stop such a Charge: 

J. that Respondent is collecting payment for or is renewing the same product that the 

Business purchased the prior term; or 

K. any other material fact about the price or features ofany product, or concerning a 

Business's ability to have. monitor. maintain, build. or improve its own credit report or 

credit file. 

II. Prohibitions Regarding Negative Option Feature 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent. and Respondent's officers. agents, 

employees, and attorneys, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any of 

them, who receive actual notice ofthis Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, are 

prohibited from using a Negative Option Feature: 

A. To renew an existing agreement with or Charge a Current Customer for (I) a 

CreditBuilder 2018 product or (2) a CreditMonitor Substitute Product, unless Respondent 

Page 5 of20 
receives the express consent ofthe customer to renew the product. and has complied with 

the Notification required by Section VI I below. 

B. To renew an agreement with or Charge a Business for any Covered Product when 

Respondent has increased the list price ofthe product. unless Respondent first provides 

the Business with notice ofsuch increase before the agreement is scheduled to renew, and 

gives the Business at least 30 days after such notice to cancel and avoid being Charged 

for the product. 

I. Notice shall be provided by email. If Respondent does not have a working email for 

the Business. or if the emailed notice is returned as undeliverable. notice shall be 

provided by United States Postal Service, first class mail. postage pre-paid. If 

Respondent sends notic.e by United States Postal Service, Respondent must give the 

Business at least 30 days from the date ofmailing to cancel and avoid being Charged 

for the product. If Respondent does not have a maj)jng address for the Business. or if 

a notice sent by United States Postal Service is returned as undeliverable. Respondent 

must receive the express consent ofthe Business before renewing the product at the 

increased price. 

2. The notice shall include the product's list price for the current term, the product's 

new list price, instructions on the procedure to cancel ifthe Business does not want to 

renew (as set forth in this Part B.3 below). and the deadline by which the Business 

must affirmatively act to avoid being Charged. The subject line ofthe email, and the 

front ofthe envelope for notice by United States Postal Service, shall read, without 

any additional language, "Price lncrease Affecting Your Dun & Bradstreet [X] 

Product.'' Respondent shall insert the name ofthe specific Covered Product at issue 

where indicated by (X]. Provided, however, that if Respondent has increased the list 

price ofthe product but Respondent is providing the Business with a discount so that 

the Business will not pay any ofthe price increase. the notice shall also include the 

price that Respondent will Charge the Business. and the subject line of the email and 

the front of the envelope for notice by United States Postal Service shall read, without 

any additional language, ·'Price Information About Your Dun & Bradstreet [X] 

Product." 

3. Respondent shall provide a simple mechanism that the Business can easily use to 

cancel the product and avoid being Charged, including a telephone number and web 

form. Respondent must assure that all calls to this telephone number are answered 

during normal business hours. Respondent shall provide the telephone number and a 

link to the web form in the notice, and shall post it to an easily accessible location on 

the lnternet. 

C. To renew an agreement with or Charge a Business for any Covered Product a Business 

purchased when Respondent has materially changed the product's feature or features in a 

manner that limits, reduces. or eliminates such feature or features. 

Page 6 of20 
D. To substitute a different product for the Covered Product a Business purchased. provided 

that, this Part D does not apply and Parts Band C ofthis Section apply instead if: 

1. Respondent renames or rebrands the Covered Product that the Business purchased. or 

2. Respondent eliminates and ceases to offer the Covered Product a Business purchased 

(the "Eliminated Product"), under the following conditions: 

a. The list price ofthe substitute product is no higher than the list price of the 

Eliminated Product. For purposes ofthe calculation required by this 

condition. Respondent may not consider any introductory or discounted 

pricing ofthe substitute product. 

b. The substitute product has every material feature ofthe Eliminated Product. 

and none ofthose features are limited or reduced in comparison to the 

Eliminated Product. Respondent may not use a combination ofsubstitute 

products to meet this condition. 

c. Respondent (i) provides the Business with prompt notice ofsuch product 

substitution. and (ii) gives the Business at least 30 days after such notice to 

cancel and avoid being Charged for the substitute product. The notice shall be 

provided in the same manner as set forth in Part B.1. ofthis Section. If 

Respondent is required to send notice by United States Postal Service and 

does not have a mailing address for the Business. or if a notice sent by United 

States Postal Service is returned as undeliverable. Respondent must receive 

the express consent ofthe Business before Charging the Business for a 

substitute product. 

d. The required notice shall identify the Eliminated Product and its list price; 

shall identify the substitute product, its list price and its features; and shall 

disclose that the Eliminated Product is no longer being offered. The notice 

shall also provide instructions on the procedure to cancel ifthe Business does 

not want to renew (as set forth in Part 8 .3 above), and the deadline by which 

the Business must affirmatively act to avoid being Charged. The subject line 

ofthe email, and the front of the envelope for notice by United States Postal 

Service, shall read, without any additional language, ''Notice ofSubstitution 

of your [name ofEliminated Product] to a Different Product." 

e. If, at any time. Respondent reintroduces the Eliminated Product Respondent 

shall revert the Business's subscription back to a subscription to the 

Eliminated Product. For the first subscription term upon such reversion, 

Respondent shall charge the Business no more than the lowest of(i) the 

amount the Business paid for its most recent term ofsubscription to the 

Eliminated Product, or (ii) the amount the Business paid for its most recent 

term ofsubscription to any Covered Product, or (iii) the list price ofthe 

reintroduced Eliminated Product. In the event ofsuch reversion, Respondent 

Page 7 of20 
shall provide notice to the Business ofthe reversion in a manner consistent 

with the terms of Parts D.2.c and d. above. 

E. For all oral offers for Covered Products. without obtaining express oral confirmation, 

before obtaining a Business's Billing Information, that the Business understands that the 

transaction includes a Negative Option Feature, and understands the specific affinnative 

steps the Business must take to prevent or stop further Charges. For such transactions. 

Respondent shall maintain for three (3) years from the date ofeach transaction an 

unedited voice recording ofthe entire transaction. 

ID. Required Disclosure: Aggregated Trade Reference Acceptance Percentage 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent, and Respondent's officers. agents, and 

employees. and all other persons in active concert or participation with any ofthem. who receive 

actual notice ofthis Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, in connection with the 

advertising, promotion. offering for sale, or saJe of, or the Charging for, any CreditBuilder Line 

Product or bundled product that includes a CreditBuilder Line Product, must disclose, Clearly 

and Conspicuously. before obtaining the Business's Billing Infonnation, the aggregated Trade 

Reference Acceptance Percentage for the preceding calendar year. Upon the start ofa new 

calendar year, Respondent may continue to disclose the most recently available calendar year's 

percentage until Respondent has calculated the updated percentage for the preceding calendar 

year. provided that Respondent must begin disclosing the percentage for the preceding calendar 

year no later than April I. 

IV. Required Disclosure: Respondent Does Not Identify Ineligible Trade References And 

Reasons For Rejection 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent. and Respondent's officers, agents, and 

employees, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any ofthem. who receive 

actual notice ofthis Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, in connection with the 

advertising, promotion, offering for sale, or sale of, or the Charging for. any CreditBuilder Line 

Product or bundled product that includes a CreditBuilder Line Product, must disclose. Clearly 

and Conspicuously. before obtaining the Business's Billing lnformation: 

A. that although Respondent mafotains lists ofnamed entities that are ineligible to be added 

as Trade References through CreditBuilder Line Product submissions, Respondent will 

not disclose in advance ofany Trade Reference payment experience submission whether 

such Trade Reference is ineligible; and 

8. that ifRespondent rejects a Trade Reference payment experience submission. 

Respondent will not identify to the Business the specific reason for rejection ofthat 

submission. 

Provided that, if Respondent changes its practices described in either Part A or Part B of this 

Section (or both ofthem). this Section shall require accurate disclosure ofthe resulting practice 

or practices. 

Page 8 of20 
V. Unfairness Relief: Dispute Investigation and Resolution 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED thatRespondent, and Respondent's officers, agents, 

employees. and attorneys. and all other persons in active concert or participation with any of 

them, who receive actual notice ofthis Order. whether acting directly or indirectly, shall, free of 

charge, provide Businesses with access to information gathered, collected or maintained by 

Respondent, other than Respondenfs proprietary or derived scores. ratings. calculations, 

summaries. predictions and analyses. that Respondent reports about them. and shall, free of 

charge, provide such Businesses with reasonable means to dispute the accuracy ofsuch 

information. 

A. 1fa Business notifies Respondent directly (by notifying a customer service representative 

or using an online process provided by Respondent) that it disputes the accuracy of 

information that Respondent reports about the Business. Respondent shall, free ofcharge, 

either delete the information from files gathered, collected, or maintained by Respondent. 

or conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to determine whether the disputed information is 

inaccurate. A reasonable reinvestigation must be responsive to the specific allegations, if 

any, in the Business's dispute. 

B. In conducting a reinvestigation, Respondent shall review and consider all relevant 

information. including, as applicable, information in Respondent's own files, publicly 

available information, information Respondent receives from vendors. suppliers or other 

entities, and information submitted by the disputing Business with respect to such 

disputed information. Respondent shall have no obligation to resolve disputes among 

other businesses as to billing or payments. 

C. Ifa Business notifies Respondent directly (by notifying a customer service representative 

or using an online process provided by Respondent) that it disputes any information that 

Respondent reports about the Business's basic identifying information, such as its name. 

address, or operating status (in business or out of business), Respondent shall complete 

its investigation within seven (7) business days from the date on which Respondent 

receives notice ofthe dispute from the Business. This seven-business~day period may be 

extended for not more than seven (7) additional business days ifRespondent is unable to 

complete its investigation within seven business days despite reasonable efforts. For 

disputes about a Business's DUNS number (for instance, incorrect number reported or 

multiple DUNS assigned to the same Business), the time frames in this Part C shall be 

extended by seven (7) business days. 

D. Ifa Business notifies Respondent directly (by notifying a customer service representative 

or using an online process provided by Respondent) that it disputes any information that 

Respondent reports based on publicly available information, such asjudgments and liens. 

or on payment experience information: 

I. For any disputed publicly available information, ifrequested by the Business, 

Respondent shall promptly identify to the disputing Business the open source 

Page 9 of20 
ofthe information, to the extent reasonably available, ifnot all'eady provided to 

the Business; 

2. For any disputed payment experience information that Respondent does not 

remove from the Business's record. ifrequested by the Business, Respondent 

shall, to the extent permitted by the source that reported the payment 

experience information, promptly provide the disputing Business with the 

name ofsuch source and the date ofthe payment experience at issue; provided, 

however, that Respondent may include reasonable limits on the number of 

items that can be disputed at one time; 

3. Respondent shall complete its investigation within fou11een ( 14) business days 

from the date on which Respondent receives notice of the dispute from the 

Business. This fourteen-business-day period may be extended for not more 

than fourteen (14) additional business days ifRespondent is unable to complete 

its investigation within fou11een (14) business days despite reasonable efforts; 

and 

4. If Respondent provides the disputing Business with additional details regarding 

the disputed information pursuant to this Part D, and asks the Business to 

confirm that it continues to dispute the information in light ofthe additional 

details, then (i) Respondent may defer any additional reinvestigation until the 

Business informs Respondent that it continues to dispute the information, and 

(ii) the time between when the additional details are provided to the Business 

and when the Business informs Respondent that it continues to dispute the 

information shall not be counted in determining the time periods and deadlines 

set forth in this Part D. 

E. If. after any reinvestigation required by Part C or Dofthis Section, an item of 

information is found to be inaccurate, or additionally as to payment experience 

infonnation, cannot be verified. Respondent shall promptly adjust its records to correct, 

modify, or delete that item of information to the extent that Respondent has gathered, 

collected, or maintained that item ofinformation. Respondent shall maintain systems 

such that: (i) to the extent Respondent's products provide credit reports, scores, or ratings 

that contain information that updates on a daily basis, the product is designed to display 

the result ofthe correction. modification. or deletion ofsuch information within four (4) 

business days after the investigation is completed; and (ii) to the extent Respondent's 

products provide credit reports, scores1 or ratings that contain information that updates on 

a periodic basis, the product is designed to display the result ofthe correction, 

modification, or deletion ofsuch information no later than Respondent's next periodic 

issuance ofthe information or an update to the information. 

F. Following any deletion of payment experience information which is found to be 

inaccurate or the accuracy of which cannot be verified, Respondent shall furnish 

notification that the item has been deleted to any entity identified by the affected 

Business, if(l) the identified entity obtained information from Respondent about the 

Page 10 of20 
affected Business within a period beginning 60 days prior to notice ofthe dispute that 

resulted in deletion, and (2) the it1formation obtained by the identified entity included or 

relied on the deleted information. 

G. Respondent shall maintain reasonable procedures designed to prevent the reoccurrence in 

a Business's credit file and credit rep01ts oferrors corrected pursuant to this Section. 

H. If Respondent removes any payment experience information from a Business's credit 

report pursuant to Part Eofthis Section. Respondent shall maintain reasonable 

procedures to prevent the reappearance ofsuch information in the Business· s tile unless 

the source ofthe information confirms that the information is complete and accurate. 

I. Respondent shall provide notice to a disputing Business ofthe results ofa reinvestigation 

under this Section not later than five (5) business days after the completion ofthe 

reinvestigation. Such notice shall include a statement that the reinvestigation is 

completed and provide the Business with free access to the information as revised as a 

result ofthe reinvestigation, other than Respondent's proprietary or derived scores, 

ratings. calculations, summaries, predictions and analyses. that Respondent reports about 

them. 

J. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section V, Respondent's responsibilities 

set forth in this Section V apply only to Respondent's own records and reports pertaining 

to a Business. Respondent has no obligation under this Section V to take any action to 

investigate, correct, modify, or delete information that is collected or maintained about a 

Business by Respondent's affiliates or partners, provided, however, that ifa Business 

notifies Respondent directly (by notifying a customer service representa6ve or using an 

online process provided by Respondent) that it disputes the accuracy ofany such 

information, Respondent shall either (i) request that the affiliate or partner investigate the 

dispute or (ii) provide the Business with information sufficient for the Business to contact 

the affiliate or partner directly to dispute the accuracy ofthe information. 

VI. Refunds to Customers 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent shall issue refunds as follows: 

A. Within sixty (60) days after entry ofthis Order, Respondent shall provide refunds or 

attempt to provide refunds to all Refund Customers. as defined in this Section, who are 

not Current Customers, in the manner set forth in this Section. For Current Customers 

who receive notice pursuant to Parts A and B ofSection VII, below, Respondent shall 

provide refunds or attempt to provide refunds within forty-five (45) days of receiving the 

Cu1Tent Customer's notice ofcancellation. 

Page 11 of20 
B. Potential Refund Customers include all Current Customers and former customers of 

CreditBuilder Line Products who: 

1. paid for at least one subscription to a CreditBuilder Line Product on or after April 27, 

2015; 

2. were CreditBuilder Line Product customers before May 1, 2020; 

3. have not already received a full refund for the customer's Relevant Subscription 

Term; and, 

4. submitted one or more Trade Refereoce payment experience requests in the Relevant 

Subscription Term and. 

i. for Businesses that submitted one or two Trade Reference payment 

experience requests in the Relevant Subscription Term, did not have 

all ofthe experiences accepted, verified, and added to their credit 

report, or 

ii. for Businesses that submitted three or more Trade References in the 

Relevant Subscription Term, had fewer than three separate requested 

Trade Reference payment experiences accepted, verified, and added to 

their credit repo1i. 

iii. The calculation ofthe number ofseparate Trade Reference payment 

experiences accepted, verified, and added shall exclude any Trade 

Reference that already had an agreement with Respondent to 

automatically report commercial payment information to Respondent 

on a regular basis about Businesses, regardless ofwhether Respondent 

added payment experiences between that Trade Reference and the 

customer to the customer's credit report. 

Provided. however, that ifthe requirements ofVI.B.l-3 are met, the following shall 

also be Potential Refund Customers ifthey submitted no Trade Reference payment 

experience requests in the Relevant Subscription term: (a) CreditBuilder 2018 

customers, and (b) Businesses that plU·chased or were Charged for a CreditMonitor 

Substitute Product. 

C. Potential Refund Customers. and their current contact information, must be identified to 

the extent such information is in Respondent's possession, custody or control, including 

from third parties. Potential Refund Customers include those identified at any time, 

including after Respondent's execution ofthe Agreement through the eligibility period, which runs for one (1) year after the issuance date ofthe Order. 

D. Refund Customers are (i) all Potential Refund Customers who are not Current Customers 

and (ii) Potential Refund Customers who are Current Customers and who timely cancel 

Page 12 of20 
their current CreditBuilder Line Product subscription pursuant to Section VII ofthis 

Order. 

£. For Refund Customers who are not Current Customers and who are first identified after 

Respondent first emails or mails Notices pursuant to Section VII, Respondent shall issue 

a refund or attempt to issue a refund within forty-five ( 45) days oftheir identification. 

F. For Refund Customers who are Current Customers, Respondent shall issue the amount of 

compensation calculated pursuant to Part G ofthis Section through a refund applied to 

the credit card or other method of payment Respondent has on file for the Refund 

Customer. Respondent shall provide such Current Customers. other than those who paid 

for a CreditBuilder 2018 prnduct in the Relevant Subscription Term, with access to all 

functions ofRespondent's CreditMonitor product through the end ofthe Current 

Customer's Relevant Subscription Tenn. 

G. For Refund Customers who are not Current Customers or for whom Respondent does not 

have a valid credit card or other method ofpayment on file, Respondent shall issue the 

amount ofcompensation calculated pursuant to Part H ofthis Section by sending a check 

by United States Postal Service. in accordance with the following instructions: 

1. For Refund Customers who are not Current Customers, Respondent shall include a 

letter in the form shown in Attachment D. 

2. The envelope containing the letter must be in the form shown in Attachment E. 

3. The face ofeach check must Clearly and Conspicuously state: ··Please cash or 

deposit this check within J80 days or it may no longer be good.'' Respondent may 

void any checks that have not been negotiated after 187 days from the date the checks 

were originally mailed, subject to Pan G.5. ofthis Section. 

4. The mailing must not include any other enclosures or marketing information, and 

shall not in any manner offer any products. 

5. The mailing must be sent by first-class mail. postage prepaid, address correction 

service requested with forwarding and return postage guaranteed. For any mailings 

returned as undeliverable, Respondent must use standard address search 

methodologies such as re-checking Respondent's own data and records and the Postal 

Service·s National Change of Address database and re-mailing lo the corrected 

address within fifteen (15) business days. Respondent may void any re-mailed 

checks that have not been negotiated after 187 days from the date the checks were remailed. 

H. The amount of compensation for each Refund Customer who paid for a CreditBuilder 

Line Product shall be calculated as follows: 

Page 13 of20 
1. For Refund Customers who paid for a CreditBuilder 2018 product in the Relevant 

Subscription Term, the amount ofcompensation is the total amount the Refund 

Customer paid Respondent for the Relevant Subscription Term for the CreditBuilder 

2018 product. 

2. For Refund Customers who are Current Customers, other than those who paid for a 

CreditBuilder 2018 product in the Relevant Subscription Term, the amount of 

compensation for each Refund Customer is the total amount the Refund Customer 

paid Respondent for the Relevant Subscription Term for the CreditBuilder Line 

Product reduced by $399, except that as applicable, the compensation will instead be 

reduced by the Pro Rata Result. 

3. For Refund Customers who are former customers, other than those who paid for a 

CreditBuilder 20 l 8 product in the Relevant Subscription Term, the amount of 

compensation for each Refund Customer is the total amount the Refund Customer 

paid Respondent for the Relevant Subscription Term for the CreditBuilder Line 

Product reduced by $480, except that, as applicable, the compensation will instead be 

reduced by the Pro Rata Result. 

4. Ifa Refund Customer upgraded or otherwise moved from one CreditBuilder Line 

Product to another CreditBuilder Line Product during the Relevant Subscription Term 

and had a portion of a previous payment applied to the upgraded CreditBuilder Line 

Product subscription. the amount ofcompensation shall include the amount applied to 

the more recent subscription. 

5. Ifa Refund Customer already received a partial refund for its CreditBuilder Line 

Product in the Relevant Subscription Term, Respondent may reduce the 

compensation by the amount ofthe refund already provided. Ifrequested by the 

Commission pursuant to 1.2 below, Respondent must produce any refund records on 

which it relies to reduce compensation pursuant to this Part. 

r. Respondent must report on this refund program under penalty ofperjury: 

I . Respondent must submit a report at the conclusion of the program: summarizing its 

compliance, including the total number of, and dollar amounts for. Refund 

Customers, refunds made, refund checks mailed, and refund checks negotiated. 

2. lfa representative ofthe Commission requests any information regarding the 

program, including any ofthe underlying customer data, Respondent must submit it 

within ten (10) business days ofthe request. Upon request by Respondent, this tenbusiness-day period may be extended for a reasonable number ofdays by the 

Commission's requesting representative, and such extension shall not be 

unreasonably withheld. 

3. Failure to provide required refunds or any requested information will be treated as a 

continuing failure to obey this Order. 

Page 14 of20 
VII. Notification to Current Customers ofCovered Products that Automatically Renew 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent shall, within sixty (60) days ofentry ofthis 

Order, provide adequate artd timely Notice ofthis Order by email (if Respondent has an email 

address for the customer) or United States Postal Service (if Respondent does not have an email 

address for the customer) to each Current Customer of a Covered Product that Respondent 

automatically renews, who paid or agreed to pay money to Respondent or Billing Information as 

a means ofpaying Respondent. 

A. For Current Customers who are Potential Refund Customers with a subscription to a 

CreditBuilder 2018 product, the Notice shall provide notice ofthis Order, information 

about the automatic renewal schedule or subscription end date ofthe product, and an 

opportunity to cancel their CreditBuilder 2018 subscription and receive a refund. The 

Notice shall be in the exact wording and format set forth in Attachment A. The subject 

line ofthe email and letter must read "Option to cancel your CreditBuilder product 

and potential refund from Dun & Bradstreet." The Notice shall include or enclose (if 

by mail) only the information described in Part D ofthis Section, and shall not include 

any other message, attachment, or enclosure. 

B. For all other Current Customers who are Potential Refund Customers, the Notice shall 

provide notice of this Order, information about the automatic renewal schedule or 

subscription end date oftheir product, and an opportunity to cancel their subscription and 

receive a partial refund. The Notice shall be in the exact wording and format set forth in 

Attachment B. The subject line of the email and letter must read ·'Option to cancel your 

CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials product and potential partial refund from Dun 

& Brads-treet." The Notice shall include or enclose (if by mail) only the information 

described in Part D ofthis Section, and shall not include any other message, attachment. 

or enclosure. 

C. For all other Current Customers that have a paid subscription to any Covered Product that 

automatically renews or would automatically renew absent the application ofSection II.A 

ofthis Order. the Notice shall provide notice ofthis Order and information about the 

automatic renewal schedule or subscription end date oftheir Covered Product or 

Products. The Notice shall be in the exact wording and format set forth in Attachment C. 

The subject Jine ofthe email and letter must read "Notice oflawsuit and information 

about your Dun & Bradstreet product or products." The Notice shaJI include or 

enclose (ifby mail) only the information described in Part D ofthis Section, and shall not 

include any other message. attachment, or enclosure. 

D. The Notice shall include or enclose (ifby mail) the following: 

1. a list of all paid subscriptions to Covered Products, 

2. a list ofall paid subscriptions to any ofRespondent's other products that the customer 

has purchased from the same business unit responsible for Covered Products, 

Page 15 of20 
3. a briefdescription (in compliance with Section I ofthis Order) ofeach such product, 

4. the price the customer paid for each product in its current term, 

5. the current list price and, ifdifferent, renewal price, ofeach such product, 

6. the date each product is scheduled to automatically renew and, for products covered 

by Section IT. A ofthis Order, the end date ofthe product subscriptioh term and a 

disclosure that such product will not automatically renew, and 

7. a telephone number that the customer can call to obtain a complete list of 

Respondent's paid products to which the customer subscribes. 

E. Respondent must use reasonable means to attempt to determine whether each Notice sent 

by email pursuant to this Section was opened by the recipient. IfRespondent has no 

indication that the recipient opened the email within twenty (20) business days after the 

date Respondent sent it, Respondent shal I, within ten (l 0) additional business days, send 

the Notice (with enclosure) by United States Postal Service. Any deadline for the 

recipient to respond to the Notice shall run only from the last date that Respondent sent a 

Notice to the recipient. 

F. Notices sent by United States Postal Service pursuant to this Section shall be sent firstclass mail, postage prepaid, address correction service requested with forwarding and 

return postage guaranteed. ForNotices in the form ofAttachment A or Attachment B, 

the front ofthe envelope shall read ''Option to cancel your CreditBuilder or Credit 

Essentials product and potential refund from Dun & Bradstreet.'' For Notices in the 

form of Attachment C, the front ofthe envelope shall read "Notice of lawsuit and 

information about your Dun & Bradstreet product or products." For any mailings 

returned as undeliverable, Respondent must use standard address search methodologies 

such as re-checking Respondent's own data and records and the Postal Service's National 

Change ofAddress database and re-mail to the corrected address within fifteen (15) 

business days. 

G. Notwithstanding any other provision ofthis Order, Respondent shall, within thirty (30) 

days ofa written request, provide the Commission with all records reasonably requested 

about each customer to whom a Notice is sent pursuant to this Section. In accordance 

with Section X below, Respondent shall implement systems and procedures designed to 

maintain all ofthe following records about each such customer, and in accordance with 

this Part G, the FTC may request any or all ofthem for any such customer: name; all 

known addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses; whether Respondent has any 

indication that the customer opened the Notice email (and, ifso, the form ofsuch 

indication); the date or dates that Respondent sent a Notice; whether the customer 

canceled the CreditBuilder Line Product subscription; and copies of all communications 

with the customer that are made through the channels identified in the Notice and that 

Page 16 of20 
relate to the Notice, including webform submissions. recordings oftelephone calls. and 

recordings ofvoicemail messages. 

VIII. Acknowledgments of the Order 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent obtain acknowledgments ofreceipt ofthis 

Order: 

A. Respondent, within 10 days after the effective date ofthis Order, must submit to the 

Commission an acknowledgment of receipt of this Order sworn under penalty ofperjury. 

B. For 3 years after the issuance date of this Order, Respondent must deliver a copy ofthis 

Order to: (I) all principals, officers, directors. and LLC managers and members: (2) all 

employees having managerial responsibHities for any Covered Product subject to a 

Negative Option Feature. and all agents and representatives who participate in the sale of 

any Covered Product; and (3) any business entity resulting from any change in structure 

as set forth in the Provision titled Compliance Reports and Notices. Delivery must occur 

within IO days after the effective date ofthis Order for current personnel. For all others, 

delivery must occur within 10 days ofwhen they assume their responsibilities. 

C. From each individual or entity to which Respondent delivered a copy ofthis Order. 

Respondent must obtain, within 30 days. a signed and dated acknowledgment ofreceipt 

of this Order. 

IX. Compliance Reports and Notices 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent make timely submissions to the 

Commission: 

A. One year after the issuance date ofthis Order, Respondent must submit a compliance 

report, sworn under penalty of perjury, in which Respondent must: (I) identify the 

primary physical, postal, and email address and telephone number. as designated points 

ofcontact, which representatives ofthe Commission may use to communicate with 

Respondent; (2) identify all of Respondent's businesses by all oftheir names. telephone 

numbers. and physical. postal, email, and Internet addresses; (3) describe the activities of 

each business. including the goods and services offered and the means ofadvertising, 

marketing, and sales: (4) describe in detail whether and how Respondent is in compliance 

with each Provision ofthis Order, including a discussion ofall ofthe changes 

Respondent made to comply with the Order; and (5) provide a copy ofeach 

Acknowledgment ofthe Order obtained pursuant to this Order. unless previously 

submitted to the Commission. 

8. For IO years after the issuance date ofthis Order, Respondent must submit a compliance 

notice, sworn under penalty ofpe1jury. within 14 days ofany change in: (I) any 

designated point ofcontact; or (2) the structure of Respondent or any entity that 

Page 17 of20 
Respondent has any ownership interest in or controls directly or indirectly that may affect 

compliance obligations arising under this Order. including: creation. merger. sale. or 

dissolution ofthe entity or any subsidiary, parent. or affiliate that engages in any acts or 

practices subject to this Order. 

C. Respondent must submit notice ofthe filing of any bankruptcy petition, insolvency 

proceeding, or similar proceeding by or against Respondent within 14 days of its filing. 

D. Any submission to the Commission required by this Order to be sworn under penalty of 

perjury must be true and accurate and comply with 28 U.S.C. § 1746, such as by 

concluding: ••J declare under penalty ofperjury under the laws ofthe United States of 

America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on: ·'__,, and supplying the 

date, signatory's full name. title tif applicable), and signature. 

E. Unless otherwise directed by a Commission representative in writing, all submissions to 

the Commission pursuant to this Order must be emailed to DEbrief@ftc.gov or sent by 

overnight courier (not the U.S. Postal Service) to: Associate Director for Enforcement, 

Bureau ofConsumer Protection. Federal Trade Commission. 600 Pennsylvania A venue 

NW, Washington, DC 20580. The subject line must begin: In re Dun & Bradstreet, Inc .• 

[plus the docket number]. 

X. Recordkeeping 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Respondent must create certain records for IO years after 

the issuance date of the Order. and retain each such record for 5 years, unless otherwise specified 

below. Specifically, Respondent must create and retain the following records: 

A. accounting records showing the revenues from the sale ofall Covered Products sold, and, 

to the ex1ent such records are created and maintained in the ordinary course ofbusiness, 

the costs incurred in generating those revenues, and resulting net profit or loss; 

B. personnel records showing, for each person providing services in relation to any aspect of 

the Order. whether as an employee or otherwise, that person' s: name; addresses; 

telephone numbers; job title or position; dates of service: and (ifapplicable) the reason 

for termination: 

C. copies or records ofall consumer complaints and refund requests for Covered Products 

made to customer service. whether received directly or indirectly, such as through a third 

party. and any response; 

D. all records necessary to demonstrate full compliance with each Provision ofthis Order, 

including all submissions to the Commission; and 

E. a copy ofeach unique advertisement or other marketing material for Covered Products 

making a representation subject to this Order. 

Page 18 of20 
XI. Compliance Monitoring 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, for the purpose ofmonitoring Respondent's compliance 

with this Order: 

A. Within IO days of receipt ofa written request from a representative ofthe Commission, 

Respondent must: submit additional compliance reports or other requested infonnation. 

which must be sworn under penalty of perjury. and produce records for inspection and 

copying. 

B. For matters concerning this Order, representatives ofthe Commission are authorized to 

communicate directly with Respondent. Respondent must permit representatives ofthe 

Commission to interview anyone affiliated with Respondent who has agreed to such an 

interview. The interviewee may have counsel present. 

C. The Commission may use all other lawful means, including posing through its 

representatives as consumers, suppliers, or other individuals or entities. to Respondent or 

any individual or entity affiliated with Respondent. without the necessity ofidentification 

or prior notice. Nothing in this Order limits the Commission·s lawful use of compulsory 

process, pursuant to Sections 9 and 20 ofthe FTC Act. 15 U.S.C. §§ 49, 57b-1. 

XII. Order Effective Dates 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order is final and effective upon the date of its 

publication on the Commission's website (fie.gov) as a final order. This Order will terminate 20 

years from the date ofits issuance (which date may be stated at the end ofthis Order, near the 

Commission· s seal), or 20 years from the most recent date that the United States or the 

Commission files a complaint (with or without an accompanying settlement) in federal court 

alleging any violation ofthis Order~ whichever comes later;provided, however. that the fi ling of 

such a complaint will not affect the duration of: 

A. Any Provision in this Order that terminates in less than 20 years: 

B. This Order·s application to any Respondent that is not named as a defendant in such 

complaint; and 

C. This Order if such complaint is filed after the Order has terminated pursuant to this 

Provision. 

Provided,further, that ifsuch complaint is dismissed or a federal court rules that the Respondent 

did not violate any Provision ofthe Order, and the dismissal or ruling is either not appealed or 

upheld on appeal, then the Order will terminate according to this Provision as though the 

complaint had never been filed, except that the Order will not terminate between the date such 

complaint is filed and the later ofthe deadline for appealing such dismissal or ruling and the date 

such dismissal or ruling is upheld on appeal. 

Page 19 of20 
 

. 

By the Commission. 

April J. Tabor 

Secretary 

SEAL: 

ISSUED: April 6, 2022

Page 20 of20 
ATTACHMENT A

[D&B letterhead]

Customer No: XXXͲXXͲXXX

Date

Re: Option to cancel your CreditBuilder product and potential

refund from Dun & Bradstreet

Dear CreditBuilder Customer:

Our records show that you subscribed to our CreditBuilder product. We’re writing to tell you

that you can choose to cancel your CreditBuilder subscription and get a refund.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, recently filed a

lawsuit against us. The FTC said we made misleading claims in our marketing of CreditBuilder

and other products, including about your ability to add payment experiences to your credit

report. We did not admit to these things, but to settle the lawsuit with the FTC, we’re giving

you the option to cancel your subscription and get a refund. Our records show the following

CreditBuilder subscription is eligible for cancellation:

x [Description of the CreditBuilder subscription]

x You paid $xx.xx for the current subscription term

x The current list price is $xx.xx

x Your subscription ends on (Month, Day, Year)

If you want to cancel your subscription and get a refund, you must let us know within 30 days

of the date on this letter by

x calling us at [toll free number],

x completing the online form at [web form URL], or

x returning the included Notice of Cancellation and Request for Refund form (Enclosure A)

to us by mail at the address on the form.

If you cancel your subscription

x You’ll get a refund of what you paid for your current subscription term.

x Within 45 days of the date we get your request to cancel, we’ll issue a credit to the

method of payment currently on file. (If the payment method we have on file is no

longer valid, we will send you a check by mail.)

x You’ll lose access to your CreditBuilder subscription.
-- x Cancelling your subscription will not affect your DUNS® number or your business’s

information, scores, or ratings.

If you want to keep your subscription, you don’t have to do anything. If you keep your

CreditBuilder subscription, we won’t automatically renew it and charge you. But, we may

contact you to ask if you want to renew it.

[Include the next section only if there WILL NOT be an enclosed list of paid subscriptions in

addition to CreditBuilder 2018]

You may have other subscriptions with us. To get a list of products to which you subscribe, call

us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].

[end of section]

[Include the next section only if there WILL be an enclosed list of paid subscriptions in

addition to CreditBuilder 2018]

We’ve enclosed a list of other paid subscriptions you have, how much you paid for each, when

it expires, if we’ll automatically renew it, and when we’ll charge you.

You may have other subscriptions not included in the list. To get a complete list of your

subscriptions, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].

[end of section]

You can learn more about the FTC’s lawsuit against Dun & Bradstreet at www.ftc.gov/[url].
Enclosure A to Attachment A

Notice of Cancellation and Request for Refund

TO: [Address of Company]

Re: Cancellation Request for Customer No. XXXͲXXͲXXX

I am writing to request cancellation of my CreditBuilder subscription. Please refund my

payment by issuing a credit to the method of payment currently on file.
Enclosure B to Attachment A

Your Current Subscriptions to Other Paid Products Not Eligible for Refund*

Subscription Amount You

Paid for this

Term

Current List

Price

Your Renewal

Price

Date of

Renewal or

End of Term

Product 1

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

Product 2

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

If you see a price in the Your Renewal Price column, that means we will automatically renew

that subscription on the date listed and we will charge you at the specified renewal price. You

may contact us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX] at any point before the date the product is scheduled to

renew to request that we not renew your subscription at the end of the current term.

* You may have other subscriptions not included in this list. To get a list of products to which

you subscribe, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].
ATTACHMENT B

[D&B letterhead]

Customer No: XXXͲXXͲXXX

Date

Re: Option to cancel your CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials product

and potential partial refund from Dun & Bradstreet

Dear CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials Customer:

Our records show that you subscribed to our CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials products. We’re

writing to tell you that you can choose to cancel your CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials

subscription and get a partial refund.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, recently filed a

lawsuit against us. The FTC said we made misleading claims in our marketing of these products,

including about your ability to add payment experiences to your credit report. We did not

admit to these things, but to settle the lawsuit with the FTC, we’re giving you the option to

cancel your subscription and get a partial refund. Our records show the following CreditBuilder

or Credit Essentials subscription is eligible for cancellation:

x [Description of the subscription]

x You paid $xx.xx for the current subscription term

x The current list price is $xx.xx

x Your subscription renews on (Month, Day, Year) at a renewal price of $xx.xx.[For

CreditMonitor Substitute Product customers, replace this bullet with: Your

subscription ends on (Month, Day, Year)]

If you want to cancel your subscription and get a refund, you must let us know within 30 days

of the date on this letter by

x calling us at [toll free number],

x completing the following form at [web form URL], or

x returning the included Notice of Cancellation and Request for Refund form (Enclosure A)

to us by mail at the address on the form.

If you cancel your subscription

x You’ll get a partial refund of what you paid for your current subscription term.
--

x Within 45 days of the date we get your request to cancel, we’ll issue a credit to the

method of payment currently on file. (If the payment method we have on file is no

longer valid, we will send you a check by mail.)

x You’ll keep your access to certain product features on our website for the remainder of

your current term, including unlimited access to view your Dun & Bradstreet credit

report. Learn more at [CreditMonitor product description URL].

x Cancelling your subscription will not affect your DUNS® number or your business’s

information, scores, or ratings.

If you want to keep your subscription, you don’t have to do anything.[Include the next

sentence only for Credit Monitor Substitute Product customers: If you keep your subscription,

we won’t automatically renew it and charge you. But, we may contact you to ask if you want to

renew it.]

[Include the next section only if there WILL NOT be an enclosed list of paid subscriptions in

addition to those listed above]

You may have other subscriptions with us. To get a list of products to which you subscribe, call

us at [(XXX XXXͲXXXX].

[end of section]

[Include the next section only if there WILL be an enclosed list of paid subscriptions in

addition to those listed above]

We’ve enclosed a list of other paid subscriptions you have, how much you paid for each, when

it expires, if we’ll automatically renew it, and when we’ll charge you.

You may have other subscriptions not included in the list. To get a complete list of your

subscriptions, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].

[end of section]

You can learn more about the FTC’s lawsuit against Dun & Bradstreet at www.ftc.gov/[url].
Enclosure A to Attachment B

Notice of Cancellation and Request for Partial Refund

TO: [Address of Company]

Re: Cancellation Request for Customer No. XXXͲXXͲXXX

I am writing to request cancellation of my (check the appropriate box)

܆ CreditBuilder subscription

տ Credit Essentials subscription

Please partially refund my payment by issuing a credit to the method of payment currently on

file.
Enclosure B to Attachment B

Your Current Subscriptions to Other Paid Products Not Eligible for Refund*

Subscription Amount You

Paid for this

Term

Current List

Price

Your Renewal

Price

Date of

Renewal or

End of Term

Product 1

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

Product 2

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

If you see a price in the Your Renewal Price column, that means we will automatically renew

that subscription on the date listed and we will charge you at the specified renewal price. You

may contact us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX] at any point before the date the product is scheduled to

renew to request that we not renew your subscription at the end of the current term.

* You may have other subscriptions not included in this list. To get a complete list of your

subscriptions, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].
ATTACHMENT C

[D&B letterhead]

Customer No: XXXͲXXͲXXX

Date

Re: Notice of lawsuit and information about your Dun & Bradstreet

product or products

Dear Customer:

Our records show that you subscribed to our CreditBuilder, Credit Essentials, or CreditMonitor

products. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency,

recently filed a lawsuit against us. The FTC said we made misleading claims in our marketing of

these products, including misleading claims about the automatic renewal of our products.

We did not admit to these things, but to settle the lawsuit with the FTC, we’re giving customers

information about products they currently subscribe to and information about the automatic

renewal schedule of those products.

We’ve enclosed a list of paid subscriptions you have, how much you paid for each, when it

expires, if we’ll automatically renew it, and when we’ll charge you.

You may have other subscriptions not included in the list. To get a complete list of your

subscriptions, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].

You can learn more about the FTC’s lawsuit against Dun & Bradstreet at www.ftc.gov/[url].
Enclosure to Attachment C

Your Current Paid Subscriptions*

Subscription Amount You

Paid for this

Term

Current List

Price

Your Renewal

Price

Date of

Renewal or

End of Term

Product 1

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

Product 2

[description]

$xx.xx $xx.xx $xx.xx

If you see a price in the Your Renewal Price column, that means we will automatically renew

that subscription on the date listed and we will charge you at the specified renewal price. You

may contact us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX] at any point before the date the product is scheduled to

renew to request that we not renew your subscription at the end of the current term.

If you see “N/A” in the Your Renewal Price column, that means we won’t automatically renew

that subscription when the term is scheduled to end, and we won’t charge you. We may

contact you about renewing the subscription before it expires.

* You may have other subscriptions not included in this list. To get a list of products to which

you subscribe, call us at [(XXX) XXXͲXXXX].
ATTACHMENT D

[D&B letterhead]

Customer No: XXXͲXXͲXXX

Date

Re: Refund check for CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials subscription from Dun &

Bradstreet

Dear Former CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials Customer:

Our records show that you subscribed to our CreditBuilder or Credit Essentials products. The

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, recently filed a

lawsuit against us. The FTC said our marketing of these products included misleading claims.

We did not admit to these things, but to settle the lawsuit with the FTC, we’re giving you a

refund. We’ve enclosed a refund check for the amount you are entitled to receive. Please cash

or deposit the enclosed check within 180 days.

If you have any questions, please call [toll free number].

You can learn more about the FTC’s lawsuit against Dun & Bradstreet at www.ftc.gov/[url].

        Sincerely,

        Dun & Bradstreet
ATTACHMENT E – 

Envelope Template 

The envelope referenced at Section VI.G.2 must be in the following form, with the underlined text 

completed as directed: 

Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 

101 John F. Kennedy Parkway 

Short Hills, NJ 07078 

FORWARDING AND RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED ADDRESS CORRECTION 

SERVICE REQUESTED 

[name and 

mailing address of consumer, 

including zip code] 

ABOUT YOUR PURCHASE OF CREDITBUILDER OR CREDIT ESSENTIALS 

AND REFUND 
 

 

 

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Office of the Secretary 

April 6, 2022

S and D Consolidated Services 

info@sdconsolidatedservices.com 

Re: In the Matter of Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 

File No. 172 3197 

Dear S and D Consolidated Services: 

We would like to thank you for commenting on the Federal Trade Commission’s 

(“Commission” or “FTC”) proposed consent order in the above-referenced proceeding. The 

Commission has placed your comment on the public record pursuant to Rule 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the 

agency’s Rules of Practice, 16 C.F.R. §4.9(b)(6)(ii). The Commission is committed to protecting 

small businesses from deceptive or other unlawful practices, and we appreciate your feedback on 

this matter. 

According to our complaint against Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (“D&B”), the company 

violated the FTC Act by engaging in deceptive practices in the sale of, and billing for, its 

CreditBuilder and related products that it has marketed directly to small and mid-sized 

businesses as a means to improve what D&B reports about them, and by engaging in unfair 

practices with respect to certain of its credit reporting practices. 

Among other things, the proposed order prohibits D&B from making false or 

unsubstantiated claims that using D&B’s product is likely to allow a business to have its 

previously unreported commercial payment experiences added to its credit report or is likely to 

help a business build or improve its credit report; requires D&B to make certain disclosures 

when offering CreditBuilder and related products; and sets out certain requirements related to 

D&B’s product renewal and charging practices. Additionally, the proposed order sets out 

specific requirements for D&B to follow when a business (regardless of whether it is a D&B 

customer) disputes information that D&B reports about it. 

In your comment, you state that after you purchased D&B’s CreditBuilder product, D&B 

reported inaccurate information about your business and wrongly removed certain information 

from your credit report. You further state that D&B canceled your CreditBuilder subscription on 

its own accord and will not return your calls. As noted above, the proposed order against D&B 

addresses sales practices relating to CreditBuilder and specific requirements that D&B must 

follow when a business disputes information in its D&B credit report. 
Having considered all the facts of this case and the comments submitted in response to 

the proposed order, the Commission has now determined that the public interest would best be 

served by issuing the Complaint and 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. The Commission thanks you again for your 

comment. 

By direction of the Commission. 

April J. Tabor 

Secretary 
 

 

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Office of the Secretary 

April 6, 2022

Anonymous 

Re: In the Matter of Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 

File No. 172 3197 

Dear Anonymous: 

We would like to thank you for commenting on the Federal Trade Commission’s 

(“Commission” or “FTC”) proposed order in the above-referenced proceeding. The Commission 

has placed your comment on the public record pursuant to Rule 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the agency’s 

Rules of Practice, 16 C.F.R. §4.9(b)(6)(ii). The Commission is committed to protecting small 

businesses from deceptive or other unlawful practices, and we appreciate your feedback on this 

matter. 

According to our complaint against Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (“D&B”), the company 

violated the FTC Act by engaging in deceptive practices in the sale of, and billing for, its 

CreditBuilder and related products that it has marketed directly to small and mid-sized 

businesses as a means to improve what D&B reports about them, and by engaging in unfair 

practices with respect to certain of its credit reporting practices. 

Among other things, the proposed order prohibits D&B from making false or 

unsubstantiated claims that using D&B’s product is likely to allow a business to have its 

previously unreported commercial payment experiences added to its credit report or is likely to 

help a business build or improve its credit report; requires D&B to make certain disclosures 

when offering CreditBuilder and related products; and sets out certain requirements related to 

D&B’s product renewal and charging practices. Additionally, the proposed consent order sets out 

specific requirements for D&B to follow when a business (regardless of whether it is a D&B 

customer) disputes information that D&B reports about it. 

We understand from your comment that you purchased D&B’s Hoovers product and that 

D&B did not fulfill the promises that it made when selling that product to you. Although the 

proposed order does not specifically mention D&B’s Hoovers product, it does prohibit D&B 

from misrepresenting any material fact about the price or features of any of its products. 

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

the proposed order, the Commission has now determined that the public interest would best be 

served by issuing the Complaint and 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. The Commission thanks you again for your 

comment. 

By direction of the Commission. 

April J. Tabor 

Secretary 
 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Office of the Secretary 

April 6, 2022

Mr. Grady Hedgespeth 

Assistant Director, Office of Small Business Lending Markets 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 

1700 G Street NW 

Washington D.C. 20552 

Re: In the Matter of Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 

File No. 172 3197 

Dear Assistant Director Hedgespeth: 

We would like to thank you for commenting on the Federal Trade Commission’s 

(“Commission” or “FTC”) proposed consent order in the above-referenced proceeding. The 

Commission has placed your comment on the public record pursuant to Rule 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the 

agency’s Rules of Practice, 16 C.F.R. §4.9(b)(6)(ii). The Commission is committed to protecting 

small businesses from deceptive or other unlawful practices, and we appreciate your feedback on 

this matter. 

According to our complaint against Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (“D&B”), the company 

violated the FTC Act by engaging in deceptive practices in the sale of, and billing for, its 

CreditBuilder and related products that it has marketed directly to small and mid-sized 

businesses as a means to improve what D&B reports about them, and by engaging in unfair 

practices with respect to certain of its credit reporting practices. 

Among other things, the proposed order prohibits D&B from making false or 

unsubstantiated claims that using D&B’s product is likely to allow a business to have its 

previously unreported commercial payment experiences added to its credit report or is likely to 

help a business build or improve its credit report; requires D&B to make certain disclosures 

when offering CreditBuilder and related products; and sets out certain requirements related to 

D&B’s product renewal and charging practices. Additionally, the proposed order sets out 

specific requirements for D&B to follow when a business (regardless of whether it is a D&B 

customer) disputes information that D&B reports about it. 

In your comment, you note a number of important issues related to small business credit 

reporting. You further state that the CFPB looks forward to working with our agency to analyze 

data that the CFPB will collect pursuant to the congressional directive in Section 1071 of the 

Dodd-Frank Act, and to working with our agency and other partners to examine whether there 

are other unlawful practices occurring related to small business credit reporting. 
We very much appreciate the CFPB’s commitment to examining these issues and 

protecting the public. We look forward to working with the CFPB in the area of small business 

credit reporting, as our agencies work together in many other areas. 

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

the proposed consent order, the Commission has now determined that the public interest would 

best be served by issuing the Complaint and 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. The Commission thanks you again for your 

comment. 

By direction of the Commission. 

April J. Tabor 

Secretary