On 1/13/2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release that Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) has agreed to an order requiring substantial changes in the firm’s operations that will benefit small- and mid-sized businesses. This is in response to FTC’s charges that D&B engaged in deceptive and unfair practices by deceiving businesses about value of products and failing to correct errors on business credit reports.
Complaints Against D&B
According to the FTC’s release, D&B is a leading provider of business credit report, however many businesses have complained of errors in these reports that have cost them time, expense, and opportunities. The FTC's administrative complaint details how D&B failed to provide these businesses with a clear, consistent, and reliable process to resolve these errors. In addition, the company profited from businesses' pain by offering a line of products that promised to improve their reports. In reality, many of these benefits proved illusory for many of the businesses.
One of the services offered by D&B whenever a business would question or try to correct an inaccuracy in its report is the CreditBuilder which is supposed to allow the business to have its payment history added to its credit report. In return, this should improve the business’s scores and ratings. According to the FTC’s complaint, though, the company regularly failed to deliver on its promises about CreditBuilder.
The FTC’s complaint also alleges that D&B’s telemarketers deceptively pitched CreditBuilder to businesses by falsely claiming that the business had to purchase the product so that D&B could conduct a background check and provide the business with a complete credit report. Additionally, D&B did not clearly inform businesses that CreditBuilder subscriptions automatically renewed each year nor disclose other renewal practices that led to ever-increasing costs for its customers.
Proposed Settlement Order
Under the terms of a proposed settlement order, D&B would need to make several changes to its processes to ensure it responds promptly and fully to businesses' complaints about incorrect information in their D&B reports. Among the notable changes:
When a business informs D&B of incorrect information in its report, D&B will be required to either delete the disputed information or perform a reinvestigation of the information to confirm its accuracy. If the reinvestigation finds the disputed information to be inaccurate, or if it cannot verify payment experience information, D&B must delete the information and must also ensure that it is not re-added to the report at a later date.
D&B has to comply with specific periods of time within which to promptly investigate and correct errors. The time allowed depends on the complexity of the investigation.
D&B will be required to inform businesses of the results of their investigations and provide businesses with free access to the information as revised.
The settlement would also require D&B to provide refunds to many businesses that first purchased CreditBuilder products between April, 2015 and May, 2020, as well as allowing its customers to cancel their services and obtain refunds if they choose to. In addition, the settlement would put restrictions on D&B’s ability to automatically renew CreditBuilder subscriptions and prohibit the company to misrepresent any material fact about the price or features of any product.
Read the FTC’s full press release here.
