CFPB to monitor credit report firms

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WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday it would oversee credit reporting companies, putting them under federal oversight for the first time.

"Credit reporting is at the heart of our lending systems and enables many of us to get credit, afford a home or get an education," said agency director Richard Cordray in a statement.

"Supervising this market will help ensure that it works properly for consumers, lenders and the wider economy."

The agency created as a consumer-oriented financial regulator by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, said it would monitor the policies of the country's largest credit reporting companies and consumer report "resellers that buy consumer information from the largest agencies then typically provide further input to the report by, for example, merging files ... to resell them."

Companies collecting and selling credit information will be supervised "just like ... banks and other non-banks already subject to CFPB supervision," the agency said.

That meant they can expect on-site examinations, requests for information on policies and other investigative scrutiny.

The CFPB said it would begin supervision of credit-reporting companies at the end of September.