Breakin’ the Law: TransUnion Charged with Repeatedly Deceiving Consumers

Consumer group warns against using credit monitoring services

Andy Spears
3 min readApr 12, 2022
Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash

On the heels of an announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that TransUnion is being charged with violating an enforcement order and continuing to engage in deceptive marketing practices, advocates at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) warned against using credit monitoring services.

“This type of flagrant violation is typical behavior for not just TransUnion, but all three credit bureaus,” said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Federal regulators, state Attorneys General, consumer advocates, and private attorneys have been battling a culture of impunity and arrogance by the credit bureaus for decades. Unfortunately, it’s the American consumer who ultimately pays the price for the credit bureaus’ longstanding habit of flouting the law.”

The CFPB noted:

The order was issued to stop the company from engaging in deceptive marketing, regarding its credit scores and other credit-related products. After the order went into effect, TransUnion continued its unlawful behavior, disregarded the order’s requirements, and continued employing deceitful digital dark patterns to profit from customers…

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Andy Spears

Writer and policy advocate living in Nashville, TN —Public Policy Ph.D. — writes on education policy, consumer affairs, and more . . .