Credit Reporting Firm to Pay Fine in Data Accuracy Dispute.

Washington -- Consumer reporting agency Far West Credit Inc. in Salt Lake City will pay $120,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company violated federal law when it did not follow reasonable procedures to assure the accuracy of the information in the consumer reports it sold to mortgage companies.

According to an FTC complaint, Far West Credit, which was acquired by LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. of Richmond, Va., in February 2004, creates consumer credit reports for use by the mortgage industry in evaluating consumers for loans. The company buys credit reports from the major credit reporting agencies - Equifax, TransUnion and Experian - and merges the information about the consumers.

If there is insufficient information about the consumer's credit worthiness from the agencies, the FTC said Far West Credit accepts information from the consumer or other interested parties to show consumers' credit status with businesses such as cable companies, utilities, "rent-to-own" businesses and insurance companies - operations that do not report normally to the nationwide credit bureaus.

The complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, alleges that Far West provided consumer reports to Keystone Mortgage and Investment Co., a home lender. Keystone had an interest in making the loans and Keystone's employees provided documentation of borrowers' credit accounts to Far West to be used in creating consumer reports for those borrowers. The credit information provided by Keystone employees was not adequately verified by Far ...