Building a Better World, Together
By Consumer Reports
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Seeking Free Credit Reports
Credit scores can make or break your financial future, potentially determining whether, for example, you can land an affordable home or auto loan. And they’re frequently used by employers to evaluate job applicants, by landlords to screen prospective tenants, and by insurance companies to price their policies.
So the ramifications can be enormous if credit reports—the collections of raw credit information on which credit scores are based—aren’t accurate. In fact, when CR asked consumers to review their credit reports in 2021, about a third of the almost 6,000 volunteers reported finding errors. (While this wasn’t a nationally representative sample, the findings were comparable to earlier studies by other organizations.)
The best way to ensure that your credit reports are accurate is to check them frequently. That has been relatively easy since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the three big reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) began offering weekly free access. The program was scheduled to end Jan. 1 when they planned to revert to the earlier policy of one free report per year, as required by federal law.
In September, CR advocates objected, arguing that we should always have free access to our own credit reports. A week later, the agencies reversed course, extending free weekly reports through 2023. Now CR will push to make free access permanent and for agencies to do more to ensure that reports are accurate.
You can help by signing our petition for free credit reports. And learn how to fix a credit reporting error if you find one.
Update on PFAS
For more than 15 years, CR has sounded the alarm about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a class of chemicals found in many water- and greaseproof products and linked to a long list of health problems, including low birth weights and increased risk of some cancers. In August, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed designating two common PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. It’s a historic move that will hold companies that pollute the environment with PFAS accountable and facilitate the cleanup of many affected communities.
Cleaning Up Car Sales
What’s at stake: Auto dealers have long had a reputation for shady business practices, and not without reason. The Federal Trade Commission gets more than 100,000 consumer complaints per year related to automobiles, many of them citing bait-and-switch marketing, bogus or surprise fees, and other deceptive sales tactics. And recent inventory shortages “seem to have emboldened many dealers to be even more brazen,” says Chuck Bell, CR’s financial services policy director.
How CR has your back: CR has for more than a decade been urging policymakers to do more to prevent deceptive auto sales tactics. In July, the FTC took an important step, proposing rules that would, among other things, require dealers to disclose the full price a consumer will have to pay for a car; prohibit dealers from forcing buyers to accept expensive add-on features, such as “gap insurance”; and make it illegal to advertise unavailable vehicles or discounts.
In September, CR joined a coalition of more than 100 public interest organizations calling on the FTC to issue the proposed rules. CR also submitted more than 200 stories of auto dealer abuse that we collected recently from our members. And as further evidence that stronger consumer protections are needed, we cited a 2021 CR investigation demonstrating that car dealers frequently overcharge consumers for auto loans.
What you can do: Read our report, "FTC Proposal Would Target Shady Car Dealer Tactics. Here’s How to Avoid Them Now," to learn how to protect yourself from deceptive auto sales practices.
Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the December 2022 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2022, Consumer Reports, Inc.
