FTC Updates Its FCRA Rules to Reflect the Limited Scope of Its Authority

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a series of final rules that make technical changes to its FCRA regulations.  The majority of these changes relate to clarifying the scope of the FTC’s rulemaking authority.  Following the Dodd-Frank Act, the FTC retained rulemaking authority for portions of FCRA as the sections apply to motor vehicle dealers, while rulemaking authority for other entities was transferred to the CFPB, which issued analogous rules under FCRA.  The FTC’s changes do not affect the CFPB’s FCRA regulations (which apply to financial institutions).

These recent changes include:

• Amending the FTC’s Prescreen Opt-Out Notice Rule to reflect the narrower scope for the rule, for motor vehicle dealers, and reinstating an amended model prescreen opt-out notice previously rescinded in 2019. 
• Amending the FTC’s Duties of Creditors Regarding Risk-Based Pricing Rule and its model notice to reflect that this FTC rule now applies only to motor vehicle dealers that use consumer reports or credit scores for risk-based pricing.  These changes include modifying examples within the rule to remove references to entities no longer within the FTC rule’s scope. 
• Amending the FTC’s Duties of Furnishers of Information to Consumer Reporting Agencies Rule to reflect the narrower scope for the rule, for motor vehicle dealers, and making other technical revisions. 
• Amending the FTC’s Duties of Users of Consumer Reports Regarding Address Discrepancies Rule to reflect the narrower scope for the rule, for motor vehicle dealers. 
• Amending the FTC’s Affiliate Marketing Rule to reflect the narrower scope for the rule, for motor vehicle dealers. 

The changes to the FTC’s Prescreen Opt-Out Notice Rule are effective October 13, 2021, and the changes to the other four rules are effective October 18, 2021.