for the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions 
Act of 2003’’, the FTC found that nearly 70 
percent (84 people) of participants from a pre-
vious survey that had filed disputes with CRAs 
continued to believe that at least some of the 
disputed information remained inaccurate at 
the time of the follow-up survey. Despite these 
views, 50 percent (42 people) of the survey par-
ticipants decided to just give up trying to fix 
the errors, with only 45 percent (38 people) of 
them planning to continue to try to resolve 
their disputes. 
(H) The increasing number of consumer 
complaints about incorrect information to the 
Bureau, coupled with the largest CRAs’ re-
peated quality control weaknesses found by Bu-
reau examiners, show that the nationwide CRAs 
have failed to establish and follow reasonable 
procedures to assure maximum accuracy of in-
formation and to conduct independent inves-
tigations of consumers’ dispute claims. These 
ongoing problems demonstrate the need for leg-
islation to— 
(i) enhance obligations on furnishers 
to substantiate information and require 
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furnishers to keep records for the same 
amount of time that adverse information 
about these accounts may appear on a per-
son’s consumer report; 
(ii) eliminate CRAs’ discretion to de-
termine the relevancy of materials provided 
by consumers to support their dispute 
claims by instead requiring them to pass 
all material onto furnishers and elimi-
nating their discretion to deem some dis-
putes frivolous or irrelevant when a con-
sumer resubmits a claim that they believe 
has been inadequately resolved; 
(iii) enhance educational content on 
CRAs’ websites to improve consumers’ un-
derstanding of the dispute process and to 
make it easier for all consumers to initiate 
claims, including by providing these disclo-
sures in other languages besides English; 
and 
(iv) create a new consumer right to 
appeal reviews by CRAs and furnishers of 
the initial disputes. 
(3) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.— 
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(A) Despite the fact that the FCRA cur-
rently provides implicit authority for injunctive 
relief, consumers have been prevented from ex-
ercising this right. Legislation explicitly clari-
fying this right is intended to underscore con-
gressional intent that injunctive relief should be 
viewed as a remedy available to consumers. 
(B) Myriad findings by the courts, regu-
lators, consumers, and consumer advocates 
make clear that CRAs have failed to establish 
adequate standards for the accuracy and com-
pleteness of consumer reports, yet the nation-
wide CRAs have demonstrated little willingness 
to retool their policies and procedures to fix the 
problems. 
(C) Providing courts with explicit authority 
to issue injunctive relief, by telling the CRAs to 
remedy unlawful practices and procedures, 
would further CRAs’ mandate under the FCRA 
to assure the maximum possible accuracy and 
completeness of credit reports. 
(D) Absent explicit authority to issue in-
junctions, history suggests that the nationwide 
CRAs are likely to continue conducting business 
as usual; dismissing any monetary settlements 
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with individual consumers and State attorneys 
general as the cost of doing business. 
(4) USE
OF
CREDIT
REPORTS
FOR
EMPLOY-
MENT PURPOSES.— 
(A) The use of credit reports as a factor 
in making hiring decisions has been found to be 
prevalent in a diverse array of occupations and 
is not limited to high-level positions. 
(B) According to the California Labor 
Federation, only 25 percent of employers re-
searched the credit history of job applicants in 
1998. However, this practice had increased to 
43 percent by 2006 and to 60 percent by 2011. 
(C) A study entitled, ‘‘Do Job Applicant 
Credit Histories Predict Job Performance Ap-
praisal Ratings or Termination Decisions?’’ 
published in 2012 found that, while credit his-
tory might conceptually measure a person’s 
level of responsibility, ability to meet deadlines, 
dependability, or integrity, it does not, in prac-
tice, actually predict an employee’s performance 
or turnover because credit reports contain many 
inaccuracies and credit history can be contami-
nated by events outside a person’s control, such 
as the effects of divorce, death, and accidents 
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on a person’s finances and ability to meet dead-
lines, past youthful naivety, and economic 
shocks. The study found that there is no benefit 
from using credit history to predict job per-
formance or turnover. 
(D) Despite the absence of data showing a 
correlation between job performance and credit 
worthiness, employers continue to use credit 
checks as a proxy for assessing character and 
integrity. According to a 2012 Society for 
Human Resource Management survey, organi-
zations indicated that they used credit checks 
on job candidates primarily to reduce or prevent 
theft and embezzlement and to minimize legal 
liability for negligent hiring. 
(E) The use of credit checks for employ-
ment purposes creates a true ‘‘catch-22’’ for 
unemployed people with impaired credit. For 
example, the financial hardship caused by losing 
a job may cause some unemployed individuals 
to make late or partial payments on their bills, 
but their poor credit standing caused by this 
negative information on their consumer report 
can impede their chances of obtaining a new job 
to end the financial distress. 
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(F) A September 2014 report by the New 
York City Council’s Committee on Civil Rights 
noted that, for those who have been unemployed 
for an extended period of time and whose credit 
has suffered as they fell behind on bills, the use 
of credit reports in the hiring process can exac-
erbate and perpetuate an already precarious sit-
uation. 
(G) A March 2013 Demos report titled 
‘‘Discredited: How Employment Credit Checks 
Keep Out Qualified Workers Out of a Job’’ 
found that one in four survey participants who 
were unemployed said that a potential employer 
had requested to check their credit report as 
part of a job application. Among job applicants 
with blemished credit histories, one in seven 
had been advised that they were not being hired 
because of their credit history. 
(H) While job applicants must give prior 
approval for a current or prospective employer 
to pull their credit reports under the FCRA, as 
a practical matter, this authorization does not 
constitute an effective consumer protection be-
cause an employer may reject any job applicant 
who refuses a credit check. 
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(I) Credit reports generally do not reflect 
the uncontrollable circumstances that may have 
contributed to or caused a person’s debts or 
late payments, such as the loss of a job, a med-
ical crisis, or a divorce. 
(J) In October 2011, FICO noted that 
from 2008 to 2009, approximately 50 million 
people experienced a 20-point drop in their 
credit scores and about 21 million saw their 
scores decline by more than 50 points. While 
the Great Recession reduced many consumers’ 
credit scores due to foreclosures and other fi-
nancial hardships, the financial crisis had a 
particularly harsh impact on Latinos and Afri-
can-Americans, as racial and ethnic minorities 
and communities of color were frequently tar-
geted by predatory mortgage lenders who 
steered them into high-cost, subprime loans 
even when these borrowers would have qualified 
for prime credit. 
(K) A May 2006 Brookings Institution re-
port titled ‘‘Credit Scores, Reports, and Getting 
Ahead in America’’ found that counties with a 
relatively higher proportion of racial and ethnic 
minorities in the United States tended to have 
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lower credit scores as compared with counties 
that had a lower concentration of communities 
of color. 
(L) Because Latino and African-American 
households tend, on average, to have lower 
credit scores than White households, credit 
checks may disproportionately screen minorities 
out of jobs, leading to discriminatory hiring 
practices, and further exacerbating the trend 
where unemployment for Latino and African- 
American communities is elevated well above 
the rate of Whites. 
(M) A 2012 Demos survey found that 65 
percent of White respondents reported having 
good or excellent credit scores, while over half 
of African-American households reported having 
fair or bad credit. 
(5) PRIVATE EDUCATION LOANS.— 
(A) The Bureau’s October 2014 report ti-
tled ‘‘Annual Report of the CFPB Student 
Loan Ombudsman’’ noted many private edu-
cation loan borrowers who sought to negotiate 
a modified repayment plan when they were ex-
periencing a period of financial distress were 
unable to get such assistance from their loan 
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holders, often resulting in them defaulting on 
their loans. This pattern closely resembles the 
difficulty that a significant number of mortgage 
loan borrowers experienced when they sought to 
take responsible steps to work with their mort-
gage servicer to avoid foreclosure during the 
Great Recession. 
(B) Although private student loan holders 
may allow a borrower to postpone payments 
while enrolled in school full-time, many limit 
this option to a certain time period, usually 48 
to 66 months. This limited time period may not 
be sufficient for those who need additional time 
to obtain their degree or who want to continue 
their education by pursing a graduate or profes-
sional degree. The Bureau found that borrowers 
who were unable to make payments often de-
faulted or had their accounts sent to collections 
before they were able to graduate. 
(6) DECEPTIVE PRACTICES AT CERTAIN PRO-
PRIETARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AND CAREER 
EDUCATION PROGRAMS.— 
(A) The for-profit college sector has come 
under heavy State and Federal scrutiny after 
the closure and bankruptcy of Corinthian Col-
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leges, which was found to have deceived stu-
dents by steering them into high-interest stu-
dent loans based on graduation rates and em-
ployment data. Even after its closure, Corin-
thian students remain saddled with debt, worth-
less degrees, and few prospects for employment. 
(B) Attending a two-year, for-profit college 
costs, on average, four times as much as at-
tending a community college. Students at for- 
profit colleges represent only about 11 percent 
of the total higher education population but a 
startling 44 percent of all Federal student loan 
defaults, according to the United States De-
partment of Education (‘‘DOE’’). 
(C) As highlighted in a press release titled, 
‘‘Obama Administration Announces Final Rules 
to Protect Students from Poor-Performing Ca-
reer College Programs’’ that was issued by the 
DOE on October 30, 2014, ‘‘[t]oo often, stu-
dents at career colleges—including thousands of 
veterans—are charged excessive costs, but don’t 
get the education they paid for. Instead, stu-
dents in such programs are provided with poor 
quality training, often for low-wage jobs or in 
occupations where there are simply no job op-
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reasonably anticipated to be received, to 
determine whether the disputed informa-
tion is accurate, complete, or can be 
verified by the person who provided the in-
formation; 
‘‘(ii) ensure that all staff involved at 
any level of the reinvestigation process, in-
cluding any individual with ultimate au-
thority over determining whether the dis-
puted information is inaccurate, incom-
plete, or cannot be verified, are located 
within the United States; 
‘‘(iii) verify that the personally identi-
fiable information of the consumer submit-
ting the dispute matches the personally 
identifiable information contained in the 
consumer’s file, and that such information 
is accurate and complete; 
‘‘(iv) verify that the consumer report-
ing agency has a record of the information 
being disputed; and 
‘‘(v) conduct a reasonable review that 
considers all information, including sub-
stantiating documents, provided by the 
consumer or reseller. 
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