Tenants wrongly declined by faulty TransUnion AI system
US-based credit score company TransUnion was found to have wrongly reported criminal and landlord-tenant eviction records to third-parties based on a machine learning-powered automated system to detect 'higher-risk' property tenants. Described as an 'enhanced analytics screening model', TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions' ResidentScore system was found in court to have falsely accused tenants of littering and other alleged misdemeanours due to inaccurate, misleading or outdated data, resulting in tenants being unfairly declined when applying for rental properties, and losing their application costs. The system, together with others like it, is also increasing costs and barriers to housing, according to a 2022 report from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. ➕ May 2023 . 15 US state attorneys general urged (pdf) regulators to ensure that 'applicants for housing have access to all the data that is being used to make determinations of their tenant ‘worthiness''. ➕ September 2023. Transunion agreed to a USD 11.5 million settlement for violating the US Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA). System 🤖 TransUnion ResidentScore 🔗 Documents 📃 TransUnion (2019). Property Managers Gain Greater Predictive Power to Help Further Decrease Future Evictions Operator: TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions Developer: TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions Country: USA Sector: Business/professional services; Real estate sales/management Purpose: Determine eviction likelihood Technology: Risk assessment algorithm; Machine learning Issue: Accountability; Accuracy/reliability; Bias/discrimination; Transparency Legal, regulatory 👩🏼⚖️ JND Legal Administration . TransUnion Rental Screening Settlement Chris Robinson v TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions, Inc. US Federal Trade Commission (2023). Response to MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning FOIA request
- Date it happened
- 2023-01-01
- Organisation involved
- TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions
- Product, system or model
- TruVision Resident Score 3.0
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