> This argument confuses a payoff to plaintiffs with costs to the credit bureau's customers
Most people would be both for a class-action lawsuit, or subclass of one another. The point is these things have costs, and when thinking "great, we just took a billion dollars from a richy rich bank!" you should also think of "wow, the richy rich bank just raised fees and made some produces worse and more costly and decided make less investment, which hurt local economy, how that happened I wonder?"
> Just as much, the purpose of the state allowing a lawsuit
This however allows all lawsuits - not only about poor data management but about somebody getting bad credit score and suing the credit report company, and about a font in the report making somebody nervous, and about some document on the company site being not compliant with some God-forsaken regulation from 1907 which some enterprising lawyer dug up and decided to turn into a nice yacht for himself. These things cost big money, and there are people specializing on making big money from such things, with zero use for the public but raising the costs of doing business (which is inevitably shifted on the end consumer). Regulations should take this into account.
> the average American isn't the credit bureau's customer,
How that is true? I've been asked for credit report when getting a credit card, renting apartment, signing up for phone service, signing up for internet service, signing up for the TV service, buying a car, buying any of the kitchen appliances, getting a mortgage, buying life insurance, buying car insurance... You get the idea. What kind of "average American" does none of these things? It's certainly not an average American I have ever met or heard of.
> And sure, landlords sometimes pass credit-check costs on to tenants but that's just one more part of the whole abusive system
I'm not sure - how this is "abusive system"? Do you expect credit bureaus work for free or landlords not charge the costs of doing business because of pure althruism and hate for money? Landlords don't rent out their property because they want to serve the humanity - they do it for money. And if something like credit check costs them money, they'd include it in the price - and unless there's a cheaper offer on the market, that'd be the price of the offer. What's "abusive" in it?
>How that is true? I've been asked for credit report when getting a credit card, renting apartment, signing up for phone service, signing up for internet service, signing up for the TV service, buying a car, buying any of the kitchen appliances, getting a mortgage, buying life insurance, buying car insurance... You get the idea. What kind of "average American" does none of these things? It's certainly not an average American I have ever met or heard of.
How does that make you a customer? This has uses for the companies you buy things from, but not for you directly. I live in a country with no credit reports (credit is given using other metrics) and in do way do I see this as you being the customer or consumer in this case.
That's something that allows me to access easy credit. If I don't have one (e.g. as a new immigrant I didn't have any credit record) I do not get access to credit, instead I have to prepay stuff, use very expensive credit (12% APR instead of 3% APR, that sort of thing), large security deposits etc. Clearly having credit reports make my life easier (and cheaper). How that's not being a customer?
Because I, and many people worldwide, can do all that without credit reports. If it weren't for the credit agencies banks would find another way to determine what credit to give you without additional costs to you.
Most people would be both for a class-action lawsuit, or subclass of one another. The point is these things have costs, and when thinking "great, we just took a billion dollars from a richy rich bank!" you should also think of "wow, the richy rich bank just raised fees and made some produces worse and more costly and decided make less investment, which hurt local economy, how that happened I wonder?"
> Just as much, the purpose of the state allowing a lawsuit
This however allows all lawsuits - not only about poor data management but about somebody getting bad credit score and suing the credit report company, and about a font in the report making somebody nervous, and about some document on the company site being not compliant with some God-forsaken regulation from 1907 which some enterprising lawyer dug up and decided to turn into a nice yacht for himself. These things cost big money, and there are people specializing on making big money from such things, with zero use for the public but raising the costs of doing business (which is inevitably shifted on the end consumer). Regulations should take this into account.
> the average American isn't the credit bureau's customer,
How that is true? I've been asked for credit report when getting a credit card, renting apartment, signing up for phone service, signing up for internet service, signing up for the TV service, buying a car, buying any of the kitchen appliances, getting a mortgage, buying life insurance, buying car insurance... You get the idea. What kind of "average American" does none of these things? It's certainly not an average American I have ever met or heard of.
> And sure, landlords sometimes pass credit-check costs on to tenants but that's just one more part of the whole abusive system
I'm not sure - how this is "abusive system"? Do you expect credit bureaus work for free or landlords not charge the costs of doing business because of pure althruism and hate for money? Landlords don't rent out their property because they want to serve the humanity - they do it for money. And if something like credit check costs them money, they'd include it in the price - and unless there's a cheaper offer on the market, that'd be the price of the offer. What's "abusive" in it?