The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it is seeking comment on a number of proposed changes to several rules aimed at aligning the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The FTC has released five notices of proposed rulemaking, each of which will be published in the Federal Register, at which point they will be open and available for comment from the public. The proposed rules would clarify that the rules being promulgated by the FTC apply only to motor vehicle dealers.
The NPRMs are proposing changes to the following rules:
- Address Discrepancy Rule, which outlines the obligations of users of consumer reports when they receive a notice of address discrepancy from a nationwide consumer reporting agency (CRA);
- Affiliate Marketing Rule, which gives consumers the right to restrict a person from using certain information obtained from an affiliate to make solicitations to the consumer;
- Furnisher Rule, which requires entities that furnish information to CRAs to establish and implement reasonable written policies and procedures regarding the accuracy and integrity of the information relating to consumers provided to a CRA;
- Pre-screen Opt-Out Notice Rule, which outlines requirements for those who use consumer report information to make unsolicited credit or insurance offers to consumers; and
- Risk-Based Pricing Rule, which requires those who use information from a consumer report to offer less favorable terms to consumers to provide them with a notice about the use of such data
The FTC is also seeking comments on the effectiveness of the five rules, including:
- whether there is a continuing need for specific provisions of each rule;
- the benefits each rule has provided to consumers;
- what modifications, if any, should be made to each rule to benefit consumers and businesses; and
- what modifications, if any, should be made to each rule to account for changes in relevant technology or economic conditions.