National credit bureau Trans Union Corp. has until April 23 to stop selling consumer credit data to unauthorized marketers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled.
The ruling stems from a 1992 complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Trans Union was violating parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by making consumer report data available to certain marketers.
After several years of back and forth on the issue, the FTC in February 2000 upheld an administrative judge's opinion that Trans Union was in violation of the act.
Trans Union then petitioned the Court of Appeals to review the FTC order, leading to the April 13 ruling in favor of the FTC.
As a result, within 10 days of the ruling, Trans Union must halt the sale of specific credit data to marketers that do not have clearance to receive such data under the FCRA.
Trans Union could not be reached for comment.
