CFPB Issues Corrected FCRA Summary of Rights Form for Employers to Use in 2013

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau discreetly published a notice that it was correcting its updates to the forms employers must utilize if they use outside agencies (aka consumer reporting agencies) to conduct background investigations (aka credit checks, etc.) of employees and applicants.  As previously reported here, responsibility for guidance, etc. concerning the Fair Credit Reporting Act transfers to the CFPB on January 1, 2013.  The FCRA requires employers to, among other things, provide applicants and employees with a form Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act before an adverse action and with an adverse action. E.g., 15 U.S.C. § 1681b.  This summary – which is now attached to the regulations as Appendix K --  has been updated to note the change of responsibility to the CFPB and employers were mandated to begin using it by 2013.  

As stated by the CFPB:

The model forms in Appendices I, K, M, and N to the Bureau’s interim final rule contain several typographical or other technical errors [which includes the Summary of Your Rights Under the FCRA]. This document [in the updated notice] corrects those errors and more closely conforms the formatting of the Bureau’s Appendices to those of the FTC.

 . . . The addresses in Appendix K for contacting the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings and the Surface Transportation Board have been updated. Typographical errors in the Spanish language translation at the top of Appendices I and K have also been corrected. . . .

To mitigate the impact of these changes on users of the model forms in the Bureau’s Appendices I, K, M, and N published December 21, 2011, the Bureau will regard the use of those model forms to constitute compliance with the FCRA provisions requiring such forms and will regard those forms to be substantially similar to the corrected forms published today, until further notice. The Bureau anticipates providing that further, notice along with ample time to allow for the orderly discontinuation of the December 21, 2011 model forms, when it issues a final rule to restate Regulation V in 2013.

You can read the CFPB official notice and print out the newly corrected forms here.

NOTICE: This summary is designed merely to inform and alert you of recent legal developments. It does not constitute legal advice and does not apply to any particular situation because different facts could lead to different results. Information here can change or be amended without notice. Readers should not act upon this information without legal advice. If you have any questions about anything you have read, you should consult with or retain an employment attorney.