The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has extended the public comment period for its investigation into how companies collect and sell consumer data.
The CFPB launched a request for information in March after announcing it would collect information from data brokers, financial institutions, individual consumers and other members of the public to assess whether brokers comply with regulations such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which protects the privacy of consumer credit information. The CFPB will now accept comments until July 15, which is 32 days past its original deadline.
"The CFPB is aware that there is still relatively limited public understanding of data brokers' operations and other impacts, but that people are concerned about the lack of control over how data about them is collected, shared, and used," the agency said in a press release Thursday.
The agency extended the deadline to encourage more stakeholders to weigh in on its efforts to safeguard consumers from data brokerage practices that operate away from public view, including by expanding the FCRA, the agency said.
Data brokers monetize consumers' personal information through its collection, aggregation, licensing and sale. They include companies that interact directly with consumers, and also third parties that handle credit reporting, employee background checks and other tasks.
The CFPB has expressed concern over the elusive ways data brokers collect and sell consumer information, often without users asking for consent. It clamped down on big tech companies in 2021, demanding that Amazon, Meta and Apple disclose how they obtain and distribute payment data.
The goal of the inquiry is to aid a more ambitious regulatory effort by revealing more about how companies collect information and how they use it, informing whether they are engaging in market abuse, the CFPB said in a March press release.
The agency asks respondents to comment on the overall market and their personal interactions with data brokers, asking questions designed to uncover how businesses collect data and what impact those practices have had on consumers.
"We are particularly interested in the unique ways in which data brokers interact with or impact specific consumer populations, such as older adults, servicemembers, students, workers, immigrants, low-income consumers, and underserved or vulnerable consumers," the CFPB added in Thursday's statement.
