Equifax Gave Millions of US Loan Seekers Inaccurate Credit Scores, Report Says

Credit monitoring company Equifax recorded inaccurate credit scores for millions of US consumers and sent them to lenders between mid March and early April, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. 

Equifax erroneously decreased or increased credit scores by more than 20 points in some instances, the report said, affecting the interest rates lenders offered loan seekers and sometimes prompting them to deny loan applications.  The company said that the error was a “coding issue” and has since been fixed. “Our data shows that less than 300,000 consumers experienced a score shift of 25 points or more,” Equifax said in the statement. “While the score may have shifted, a score shift does not necessarily mean that a consumer’s credit decision was negatively impacted.

We are collaborating with our customers to determine the actual impact to consumers.”

Lenders are seeking more information from Equifax and are considering solutions for affected loan seekers who were assigned artificially high interest rates or rejected for loans, according to the Journal.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in January that Equifax, along with TransUnion and Experian, had showed a pattern of inadequately responding when consumers complained of errors on their credit reports.