Equifax Should Face Curbs on Selling Credit Scores, Maxine Waters Says

“I urge you to use the full extent of your authority to hold Equifax and its leadership accountable,” she wrote.

Ms. Waters also sent a letter to Equifax asking how many financial institutions received erroneous scores, how many consumers were affected and how the error occurred.

Equifax Chief Executive

Mark Begor

said the company “takes this issue very seriously.”

“Businesses and consumers depend on our data and even one error affecting consumers is one error too many,” Mr. Begor said. “We can confirm that this issue, which was related to a legacy technology platform, was fixed months ago and we have further strengthened our processes and data controls since that time. We are working closely with our customers on this issue and stand behind our customers and impacted consumers.”

Equifax sent out inaccurate credit scores on millions of U.S. consumers seeking loans during a three-week period earlier this year, the Journal reported last week. The erroneous scores were for people applying for auto loans, credit cards and mortgages at lenders big and small. The scores were at times off by about 20 points or more in either direction and were enough to alter the interest rates consumers were offered or to result in their applications being rejected altogether, the Journal reported.

In her letter to the CFPB, Ms. Waters said Equifax “is quickly becoming a recidivist bad actor.” In 2017, the company fell victim to a hack that exposed the personal information of nearly 150 million Americans.

Ms. Waters criticized Equifax leadership for what she called “efforts to downplay the harm” from the credit-score errors.

Equifax previously said that there was “no shift in the vast majority of scores during the three-week timeframe of the issue.”

The errors occurred between mid-March and early April, and Equifax began disclosing the errors to lenders in May, the Journal previously reported.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Equifax last week asking for more information. That letter was also signed by Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Rep.

Raja Krishnamoorthi,

an Illinois Democrat.

Ms. Waters also sent letters to some of the biggest U.S. banks, including

JPMorgan Chase

& Co. and

Wells Fargo

& Co., asking whether they used the erroneous scores and how they are fixing the issue for consumers who were harmed by higher interest rates or credit denials.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at [email protected]

“I urge you to use the full extent of your authority to hold Equifax and its leadership accountable,” she wrote.

Ms. Waters also sent a letter to Equifax asking how many financial institutions received erroneous scores, how many consumers were affected and how the error occurred.

Equifax Chief Executive

Mark Begor

said the company “takes this issue very seriously.”

“Businesses and consumers depend on our data and even one error affecting consumers is one error too many,” Mr. Begor said. “We can confirm that this issue, which was related to a legacy technology platform, was fixed months ago and we have further strengthened our processes and data controls since that time. We are working closely with our customers on this issue and stand behind our customers and impacted consumers.”

Equifax sent out inaccurate credit scores on millions of U.S. consumers seeking loans during a three-week period earlier this year, the Journal reported last week. The erroneous scores were for people applying for auto loans, credit cards and mortgages at lenders big and small. The scores were at times off by about 20 points or more in either direction and were enough to alter the interest rates consumers were offered or to result in their applications being rejected altogether, the Journal reported.

In her letter to the CFPB, Ms. Waters said Equifax “is quickly becoming a recidivist bad actor.” In 2017, the company fell victim to a hack that exposed the personal information of nearly 150 million Americans.

Ms. Waters criticized Equifax leadership for what she called “efforts to downplay the harm” from the credit-score errors.

Equifax previously said that there was “no shift in the vast majority of scores during the three-week timeframe of the issue.”

The errors occurred between mid-March and early April, and Equifax began disclosing the errors to lenders in May, the Journal previously reported.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to Equifax last week asking for more information. That letter was also signed by Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Rep.

Raja Krishnamoorthi,

an Illinois Democrat.

Ms. Waters also sent letters to some of the biggest U.S. banks, including

JPMorgan Chase

& Co. and

Wells Fargo

& Co., asking whether they used the erroneous scores and how they are fixing the issue for consumers who were harmed by higher interest rates or credit denials.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at [email protected]