Entities

Government Accountability Office (GAO) (8)

Topics and Issues

Algorithms (10)

Credit scores (36)

In May 2022, the GAO issued a report, Congress Should Consider Enhancing Protections around Scores Used to Rank Consumers. The GAO noted that

Companies increasingly use numeric scores to predict how consumers will behave. Scores are based on hundreds of pieces of information about a person’s purchases, consumer characteristics, and more. Scores are used to target ads, to help companies collect debts from consumers, to assess the likelihood of criminal behavior and flight risk, and more.

Unlike traditional credit scores, these scores may not be subject to consumer protection laws that seek to assure fair and transparent treatment. Consumers are generally unaware of how they’re scored. We urged Congress to consider a consumer right to view and correct this data and more.

The report begins with a letter from the GAO to U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on  Research and Technology of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. That letter notes that unlike “traditional credit scores…some types of consumer scores may not be subject to consumer protection laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which helps to ensure that consumer information is used in a fair and transparent manner.

The report examined “(1) how consumer scores are used; (2) the potential risks to consumers; and (3) federal consumer protection laws that govern consumer scores.”