Credit reporting

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court said that a majority of plaintiffs in a class action were not entitled to damages because the credit reporting company did not share faulty information with banks, landlords or other third parties.

Policymakers need to stop attacking credit bureaus and take action against credit repair firms that use dubious tactics to wipe bad debt from consumers' credit reports. Such schemes both impair banks' ability to accurately underwrite loans and further hurt real victims of identity theft.

Some say Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are too slow to investigate grievances, prompting more complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the big three say other forces are at work.

Complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau jumped 54% to 542,300 in 2020. Concerns about credit reports have long outnumbered those in other categories and jumped significantly as a share of the total from 2019.

The bill introduced by Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee, would expand CFPB authority to the credit reporting industry and require that certain adverse information be removed from a consumer’s credit history.

The credit reporting firm has been building out its identity and fraud protection business for existing customers, which include many of the world’s largest banks and telecommunications companies.

The Democratic nominee has not gone as far as some progressives in support of financial inclusion, but ideas such as postal banking, a government-run credit reporting system and universal bank accounts would likely gain traction under a Biden administration.

Bank of America plans to offer some of its customers access to short-term loans, the latest blow to the payday lending industry.

Harvest, a fintech founded by Nami Baral, has developed an alternative scoring method that amasses data on spending patterns, debt payments and even earnings potential to get a better sense of consumers' creditworthiness.

Credit unions need to improve their processes to ensure the problems that have arisen with credit reporting during the coronavirus don't happen again.