Dodd-Frank clarifies limited reach of FCRA

Dodd-Frank’s definition of “financial product or service” clarifies that those offering public records information retrieval or fraud prevention services are not only outside the reach of the Bureau, but also not subject to the FCRA.

Yesterday, Darryl May and I filed a memorandum of law in Fuges v. Southwest Financial Services, Ltd., No 09-699 (E.D. Pa. filed Feb. 18, 2009),  in which we demonstrate how Dodd-Frank’s definition of “financial product or service” clarifies that businesses providing the following services are not only beyond the reach of the Bureau but also beyond the reach of the FCRA:

1. identity authentication;
2. fraud or identify theft detection, prevention, or investigation;
3. document retrieval or delivery services;
4. public records information retrieval; and
5. information products or services for anti-money laundering activities.

Consumer advocates argue that just about every information-related service, including these, should be shoehorned into the FCRA. But in passing Dodd-Frank, Congress made clear that these information services are not and never were subject to the FCRA.