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Senator Brown Calls for Review of Tenant Screening Industry
Committee Chair Calls for Key Protections for Renters
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee is calling on newly-confirmed Consumer Financial Bureau (CFPB) Direct Rohit Chopra to conduct a comprehensive review of the tenant screening industry. This industry is made up of companies that collect consumer data and provide reports on prospective tenants to landlords.
Brown’s letter comes after the committee he chairs conducted an inquiry into industry practices.
“Despite efforts to validate information, the Committee found that a significant number of tenant screening reports contained inaccurate information. Inaccuracies in tenant screening reports may result in landlords denying applicants rental housing or charging higher security deposits,” Brown noted.
“For example, an inaccurate report leading to an adverse decision could cause a family to lose its non-refundable application fee,” he continued. “For families that live paycheck to paycheck, being denied housing as a result of a screening report’s inaccuracies could strain much needed resources and deplete a household’s savings. Inaccuracies can also limit the number of applications a household can reasonably afford to…
