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The nation’s major credit reporting agencies faced renewed scrutiny from Congress on Tuesday, as lawmakers consider legislation overhauling the industry, Reuters reported. Top executives from the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax Inc, Experian Plc and TransUnion — had to defend their business models before skeptical lawmakers who appeared eager to order changes to the sector following Expedia’s massive data breach, disclosed in 2017. House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has a draft bill that would limit the reach of such credit reports, shorten the time adverse information remains on consumers’ records, and make it easier for consumers to dispute errors on their reports. Several Democrats made clear they were dissatisfied with the current state of the country’s credit reporting, arguing consumers lack control over their own data. The panel’s top Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), agreed the industry was in need of a makeover. However, he emphasized a desire to see more companies compete with the three largest agencies.

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing today at 10 a.m. EDT titled "Who's Keeping Score? Holding Credit Bureaus Accountable and Repairing a Broken System." The panel will examine two draft bills, the "Comprehensive Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 2019" and the "Protecting Innocent Consumers Affected by a Shutdown Act." Witnesses include the CEOs of Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Click here for more information on the hearing and a link to the live webstream.

A group of Republican U.S. Senators have reintroduced legislation that would require plaintiffs to disclose when they’ve secured third-party funding in litigation, the National Law Journal reported. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) yesterday reintroduced the Litigation Funding Transparency Act (LFTA). The bill would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding for class actions and multi-district litigation within 10 days of a case being filed, or 10 days after the closure of a funding deal. The bill, likewise, would require disclosure of financing to provide cash for plaintiffs. Grassley, Cornyn and Tillis proposed a prior version of the bill last year after a less extensive bill that called only for disclosure only in class actions passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017 — before Democrats took a majority of House seats in the November 2018 elections. The reintroduction of the bill comes as a group of 30 in-house counsel at 30 major companies have backed a proposal to amend Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require full disclosure of third-party funding in litigation.