Credit Reporting & Data Fairness

Alternative Data & Algorithms

Alternative data that is not usually in credit reports, such as rent, utility, cell phone, or bank account transactions, is promoted to underwrite consumers with little or no credit history, but can hurt vulnerable consumers. Huge amounts of other data about consumers is being harvested, bought and sold, and used against us. NCLC advocates for choice, fairness, privacy, and consumer access in how our data is used to ensure that this data helps, not harms consumers.

No Silver Bullet: Using Alternative Data for Financial Inclusion and Racial Justice

June 1, 2022

Credit scores reflect dramatic and troubling disparities by race, due to a multitude of factors explored in this brief, including the racial wealth gap, decades of redlining and housing segregation, historical and present-day employment discrimination, and racially biased criminal justice practices.

Read More about: No Silver Bullet: Using Alternative Data for Financial Inclusion and Racial Justice
April 14, 2021
July 1, 2019

Recent

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NCLC Comments to CFPB Proposed Rule to Regulate Data Brokers under the FCRA

March 28, 2025

OSTP RFI on the Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan

March 15, 2025

Comments of 26 Consumer, Privacy and Legal Aid Advocates on How to Protect Consumers From AI in Calls and Texts

October 10, 2024

National Public Data Breach Shows Urgent Need for CFPB to Regulate Data Brokers

August 19, 2024

Comments to the Department of Treasury on Use of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services

August 12, 2024

Sign-on Letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee re the American Privacy Rights Act (ARPA)

June 25, 2024

Letter Raising Concerns Regarding the American Privacy Rights Act

May 8, 2024

AG Campbell Issues Advisory Providing Guidance on how Massachusetts Consumer Protection and Other Laws Apply to Artificial Intelligence

April 16, 2024

Group Letter to House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee in Support of the DELETE Act

April 16, 2024

Comments & Letters

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NCLC Comments to CFPB Proposed Rule to Regulate Data Brokers under the FCRA

March 28, 2025

OSTP RFI on the Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan

March 15, 2025

Comments of 26 Consumer, Privacy and Legal Aid Advocates on How to Protect Consumers From AI in Calls and Texts

October 10, 2024

Comments to the Department of Treasury on Use of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services

August 12, 2024

Sign-on Letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee re the American Privacy Rights Act (ARPA)

June 25, 2024

Letter Raising Concerns Regarding the American Privacy Rights Act

May 8, 2024

Group Letter to House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee in Support of the DELETE Act

April 16, 2024

Comments to Proposed Rule re Use of Equifax The Work Number by Social Security Admin

April 15, 2024

Comments on Treasury Department’s Request for Information on Financial Inclusion

February 20, 2024

Reports

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Mismatched and Mistaken: How the Use of an Inaccurate Private Database Results in SSI Recipients Unjustly Losing Benefits

April 14, 2021

Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies: a Banking Access Perspective

October 1, 2015

Big Data, a Big Disappointment for Scoring Consumer Credit Risk

March 6, 2014

Full Utility Credit Reporting: Risks to Low Income Consumers

December 8, 2009

Issue Briefs

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Even the Catch-22s Come With Catch-22s: Potential Harms & Drawbacks of Rent Reporting

March 6, 2024

No Silver Bullet: Using Alternative Data for Financial Inclusion and Racial Justice

June 1, 2022

Credit Invisibility and Alternative Data: Promises and Perils

July 1, 2019

Introduction to Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies

October 1, 2014

Full File Utility Credit Reporting: Harms to Low-Income Consumers

June 12, 2013

Testimony

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Consumer Groups Statement of Opposition to Bill that Would Preempt Stronger State Privacy Law

February 8, 2023

Testimony of Chi Chi Wu before Fintech Task Force of the US House Financial Services Committee on Preserving the Right of Consumers to Access Personal Financial Data

September 21, 2021

Testimony Before U.S. House Financial Services Task Force Regarding “Banking on Your Data: The Role of Big Data in Financial Services”

November 21, 2019

Testimony of Chi Chi Wu before the U.S. House Task Force on Use of Alternative Credit Data to Expand Access to Credit

July 25, 2019

Press Releases & News

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National Public Data Breach Shows Urgent Need for CFPB to Regulate Data Brokers

August 19, 2024

AG Campbell Issues Advisory Providing Guidance on how Massachusetts Consumer Protection and Other Laws Apply to Artificial Intelligence

April 16, 2024

President’s Executive Order Will Prevent Data Sales to Countries of Concern, CFPB Must Act to Protect Consumers

February 28, 2024

Advocates Support CFPB Commitment to Closing Accountability Loopholes for Data Brokers Selling Dossiers on Americans in Secret

August 15, 2023

MIT Technology Review: Can AI fix your credit?

May 12, 2021

Statement Regarding Bank Regulators’ Guidance on Alternative Data

December 4, 2019

Digital Library: Data Gatherers Evading the FCRA May Find Themselves Still in Hot Water

June 14, 2019

Consumer Resources

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From the NCLC Digital Library

Fair Credit Reporting

The premier treatise on credit bureaus, tenant screening, background checks, and other reports, plus the latest U.S. Supreme Court rulings, CFPB interpretations, federal and state legislative changes, government enforcement actions, caselaw developments, and changes to industry practices.

Read Chapter One

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