| Topics and Issues | Credit Header (15) |
In January 2021, a number of “consumer and immigrant rights organizations” wrote to the CFPB urging it “to prohibit consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) from selling ‘credit header’ information without a permissible purpose as defined by the FCRA.” The letter was sent as a follow up to “a December 8, 2021 letter sent by Senator Ron Wyden regarding the sale of credit header information from the National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE)/Equifax to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Senator Wyden’s letter urged the CFPB to limit the sharing of credit header data to government agencies such as ICE by amending Regulation P, which implements the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). We write to propose another option to stop the sharing of credit header information, which is to remove the exclusion of credit header information from the definition of ‘consumer report’ under the FCRA.”
The letter, led by NCLC, was also signed by Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, National Immigration Law Center, and U.S. PIRG.