Safeline US LLC Consumer Reporting Agency

Consumer Reporting Agency - Safeline US, LLC A consumer reporting agency, as per the definition outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), “means any person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties…” (Federal Trade Commission - FTC, 2012). Thus, in essence, Safeline is indeed a consumer reporting agency.

This is more so the case given that true to the definition outlined above, the company is organized on a cooperative nonprofit basis and collects tenant information with a purpose of availing reports to members (third parties) on troublesome tenants. In response to Jane Doe’s Attorney, it is important to note from the onset that Safeline is not in contravention of the Fair Credit Reporting Act with regard to the circumstances used to maintain Jane Doe’s information on its centralized list.

This is more so the case given that as per the Act, a consumer reporting agency such as Safeline is permitted to avail such a report to persons or entities it has reason to believe have “legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer” (FTC, 2012). Landlords and tenants in this case could be said to be in a business relationship, in which case troublesome tenants could cost landlords money.

Towards this end, landlords have a legitimate business need for information on tenants so as to make rational business decisions (i.e. on whether or not to admit tenants to their premises). It is important to note that the Fair Credit Reporting Act demands that information maintained by consumer reporting agencies, such as Safeline, be not only fair, but also accurate. Towards this end, Jane Doe is within her rights in challenging the accuracy of the information maintained on Safeline’s centralized list.

In matters involving disputed accuracy, such as is the case with Jane Doe, there is a procedure that the Fair Credit Reporting Act prescribes.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, “if the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer’s file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly, or indirectly through a reseller, of such dispute, the agency shall, free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to determine whether the disputed information is inaccurate…” (FTC, 2012).

Towards this end, Safeline ought to investigate Jane Doe’s claims to the effect that the information captured about her is inaccurate. The fact that the company permits anonymous filing of reports could make this a rather difficult task. However, the company could still accomplish this by, amongst other things, cross-checking Jane Doe’s rental history in the DC Metro area and finding out from her previous landlords what kind of tenant she was.

If the company establishes that the report filed with regard to Jane Doe was false or untrue, then the said information ought to be removed from the centralized list maintained by the company. In the final analysis, it is important to note that the anonymous filing of troublesome tenant reports by members.