New York Consumer Law Blog

CBS MoneyWatch contacted me for their story about employment background checks and the widespread violations of consumers' rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  

That federal statute entitles consumers to accuracy -- not just with credit reports -- but also for employment and housing background checks.

Background check companies sometimes rely on partial information, like a birth year versus a full birth date, resulting in frequent mixups, experts said. "It's a much harder problem with criminal background reports, because oftentimes there is no date of birth or Social Security number provided," said Adam G. Singer, a consumer protection lawyer.
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The credit bureaus should be included.

http://fortune.com/2019/06/24/facebook-google-data-privacy-dashboard-act/
 

The Designing Accounting Safeguards to Help Broaden Oversight And Regulations on Data (DASHBOARD) Act, which was introduced on Monday, takes aim at companies that have more than 100 million monthly active users. The bill would pull back at least part of the curtain on the data collection practices of technology giants Facebook and Google—and potentially Twitter and Read more . . .

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to give wireless carriers like Verizon the green light to block Read more . . .

The story of Home Depot is a tale of greed, grift, and civil procedure. It centers on a scheme that involved three companies: Home Depot, Citibank, and Carolina Water Systems Inc. Here’s how it allegedly worked. Representatives from Home Depot or CWS called homeowners and claimed that “contaminants” were found in nearby tap water. They urged homeowners to let them perform a test for “contaminants,” which was really just a test for water hardness; almost all tap water tested positive, even if it was perfectly safe.
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Nearly 12 million U.S. residents may have had their credit cards, Social Security numbers compromised, thanks to a data breach at a medical blll-collection agency. It's likely that names, addresses and dates of birth were also part of the breach.

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https://www.crainsnewyork.
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https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/credit/credit-report-mistakes-errors/

The Federal Trade Commission Read more . . .

 https://www.
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A 2017 survey of more than 100,000 renters by the National Multifamily Housing Council, a landlord group, showed 3% of those surveyed paid rent with credit cards and 16% said they would do so if their landlords agreed.

“As rents have gone up, we get more and more emails and phone calls where people would ask us if they could pay their rent over time,” said Tony Diamond, founder of StayTony, which manages upscale apartments in the Los Angeles and Atlanta areas.

The company recently joined with loan vendor Uplift—which made a name for itself financing family vacations—to allow its tenants to finance up to three months of rent over a 12-month period.

StayTony hopes its renter loans will appeal in particular to recent college graduates. Through Uplift, it offers loans up to $16,000 that carry no interest for the first six months and an annual interest rate of 15% to 17% on average after that.

Do your credit reports include unfamiliar accounts or information?  

Learn more here: https://nyconsumerlaw.com/lawyer/Identity-Theft_cp16179.htm

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