OSPIRG Report Examines Credit Reporting Agencies
The OSPIRG Foundation today released a report "Big Credit Bureaus, Big Mistakes" examining Oregonians interactions with the three large credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.
OSPIRG gleaned its information from a federal consumer complaint database.
Here are the report's primary findings:
Oregon ranks 18th in complaints per 100,000 residents. Residents of the District of Columbia were most likely to complain.
· The most complained-about credit reporting agency in Oregon is Equifax.
· By far, the most common problem was incorrect information on a credit report, which accounted for 65 percent of complaints.
· The CFPB has helped enable nearly 3,000 consumers, or 30 percent of total complainants, to receive relief such as fixing incorrect information on a credit report or refunding service charges or fees related to credit reporting.
· The ‘big three’ nationwide credit reporting agencies (NCRAs) — Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian — varied widely in how they responded to complaints. Equifax responded to 63 percent of its complaints with non-monetary relief, while Experian did so in only 5 percent of cases and TransUnion in 22 percent. Equifax provided monetary or non-monetary relief nearly three times as often as TransUnion and more than 10 times as often as Experian.
· Consumers disputed the companies’ responses to about 18 percent of all complaints.
