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

Featured

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Comments to CFPB RFI on Data Brokers

July 14, 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

Comments to the CFPB Regarding Financial Institutions’ Use of Artificial Intelligence, Including Machine Learning

July 1, 2021

Comments to the CFPB Regarding Consumer Access to Financial Records Under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act

February 4, 2021

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

June 1, 2022

Group Letter on Artificial Intelligence and Discrimination

October 27, 2021

Comments on Financial Institutions’ Use of Artificial Intelligence, Including Machine Learning

July 1, 2021

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

Comments & Letters

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Comments on Financial Institutions’ Use of Artificial Intelligence, Including Machine Learning

July 1, 2021

Comments Regarding Use of Equifax’s Work Number Subsidiary to Screen SSI and SSDI Recipients

February 18, 2021

Comments to the CFPB Regarding Consumer Access to Financial Records Under Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act

February 4, 2021

Written Statement for CFPB’s Symposium on Consumer Access to Financial Records

February 12, 2020

Letter Responding to Senate Call for Feedback on Data Privacy, Protection and Collection

March 15, 2019

Group Letter to Congress Regarding the Credit Access and Inclusion Act

July 20, 2018

Group comments to CFPB’s Request for Information regarding Use of Alternative Data and Modeling Techniques in the Credit Process

May 19, 2017

Coalition letter opposing H.R. 435, Credit Access and Inclusion Act

December 8, 2017

Letter from 60 Groups: Do Not Delay FCRA Rulemaking

December 4, 2023

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

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

Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies: a Banking Access Perspective

October 1, 2015

Issue Briefs

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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 Utility Credit Reporting: Risks to Low Income Consumers

December 8, 2009

2023 Credit & Consumer Reporting Priorities to Promote Economic Stability

January 18, 2023

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

October 24, 2022

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

June 12, 2013

Testimony

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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

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

February 8, 2023

Press Releases & News

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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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List of Consumer Reporting Companies

June 1, 2021

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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