The company Equifax submitted incorrect credit scores for millions of customers applying for home and auto loans, as reported by CBS News.
Equifax is one of the top three credit reporting companies in the US, and provides financial information and scores for consumers, which determines whether people are approved for products including mortgages, credit cards, and auto loans, and the interest rate they pay.
Most credit scores range from 300 to 850, and consumers with scores higher obtain more favorable conditions.
CBS reported that millions of Americans were affected by the Equifax error, with some scores shifting as much as 20 points both up and down, enough that some potential borrowers were turned down for a loan master.
A small number of people went from having no credit score to having a score of 700, or vice versa. The incorrect scores were sent to Ally Financial, JPMorgan Change, and Wells Fargo, among other lenders.
In a statement on its website, Equifax said it has fixed the error, which was actually a problem with encryption.
“We know that businesses and consumers depend on our data and Equifax takes this issue very seriously technology coding. We can confirm that the issue has been resolved and that we have been working closely with our customers on analysis to better meet consumer needs,” the company said.
Equifax also said the information underlying credit report did not change. “There was no change in the vast majority of scores during the three-week period of the issue. For those consumers who did experience a score change, initial analysis indicates that only a small number of them may have received a different credit decision.”
On this matter, CEO Mark Begor said: “We had a coding issue that was a mistake made by our tech team in one of our apps that caused some scores to come out that had incorrect data. And we solved the problem”.
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