November 15, 2022

CFPB: New Report Highlights Problems with Tenant Background Checks

Errors and false information in tenant background checks raise costs and barriers to quality rental housing

Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued two reports on the tenant background check industry. The reports describe how errors in these background checks contribute to higher costs and barriers to quality rental housing. Too often, these background checks – which purport to contain valuable tenant background information – are filled with largely unvalidated information of uncertain accuracy or predictive value. While renters bear the costs of errors and false information in these reports, they have few avenues to make tenant screening companies fix their sloppy procedures. The CFPB’s analysis of more than 24,000 complaints highlighted the renter challenges associated with the industry’s failures to remove wrong, old, or misleading information and to provide adequate investigations of disputed information.

“When a company produces a tenant background check report that is riddled with errors, it can cause serious harm to a family seeking housing,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “These background reports are heavily used by corporate landlords that own an increasing share of rental housing in our country, so we are taking steps to ensure these reports do not contain false information.”

The CFPB works closely with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to hold the tenant screening industry accountable. “FTC enforcement investigations have identified serious problems with tenant background check reports. We will continue to work with the CFPB to ensure that firms compiling these reports are following the law,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The tenant background check industry creates reports that include extensive personal information, such as credit history, civil and criminal records, and credit scores, as well as the proprietary risk scores on which many landlords and property management companies base their decision to rent to a prospective tenant. The CFPB’s report on the state of the tenant screening market is an analysis of industry research, legal cases, academic research, the CFPB’s market monitoring, and other third-party sources. The CFPB’s consumer snapshot analyzes more than 24,000 complaints and results from focus groups with 44 renters.

Both reports reveal that people are denied rental housing because negative information is reported that belongs to someone else; outdated information remains on reports; and inaccurate or misleading details about arrests, criminal records, and eviction records are not corrected nor removed from reports. The consumer snapshot reveals that renters submitted more than 16,000 complaints about incorrect information on their reports and another 4,500 complaints about obstacles faced trying to get companies to fix their errors.

As described in the two reports:

Ultimately, the reporting of inaccurate negative information can contribute to difficulty finding affordable, quality housing, and result in people living farther from school or work, paying more in rent and fees, and undermining household financial stability.

Read the Tenant Background Checks Market Report .

Read the Consumer Snapshot: Tenant Background Checks .

Last year, the CFPB issued an advisory opinion regarding false identifications in background screening. The CFPB affirmed that the practice of matching consumer records solely through the matching of names is illegal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Consumers can submit tenant background check complaints, or complaints about other financial products and services, by visiting the CFPB’s website or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372).

Employees who believe their companies have violated federal consumer financial protection laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov.

This post was originally published here.