Lenders slam Equifax's employment verification "monopoly"

Two mortgage brokerages are suing Equifax, claiming its presence in the electronic verification of income and employment business runs afoul of monopoly laws.

The class action suit cites Equifax's continued acquisition of VOIE competitors and its revenue sharing with major employers who exclusively share data with the credit giant. Through the Equifax Workforce Solutions subsidiary, the company claims to have data on 126 million unique individuals.

Competitors offering VOIE services and the Community Home Lenders of America have raised alarm in recent years over Equifax's massive scope. The provider, which signed agreements with nearly three dozen payroll processors in the past three years alone, charges $66.45 for individual verifications, up from under $20 a decade ago. 

"Equifax's market power does not stem from Equifax's creative ability to design a superior product, but rather from its use of exclusive agreements, payments to its partners, and acquisition of nascent competitors to hobble rivals," wrote attorneys in the lawsuit. "Equifax has not made its product better, but rather worked with its "partners" to hamper competition."

The complaint was filed last week in a Pennsylvania federal court, and lists five Sherman Antitrust Act violations by Equifax. The brokerages are Greystone Mortgage of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and First Financial Lending of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Equifax in a statement Monday said it wouldn't comment publicly on the pending litigation and respond as appropriate. It also touted its The Work Number, its branding for its verification services. 

Two attorneys representing the brokerages, didn't respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Equifax also has yet to retain counsel in the case. 

The lawsuit references comments by company executives in past earnings calls regarding Equifax's multiyear, exclusive deals that auto-renew with both payroll software providers and massive employers. Such partners include ubiquitous payroll providers like ADP and Intuit Quickbooks, and companies including Walmart and Home Depot. 

"Discovery will show that, through its agreements with payroll providers, Equifax enjoys exclusive control over well over 40% of payroll records," the complaint said.

CEO Mark Begor, in a first quarter earnings call, said manual verifications are Equifax's biggest competitor. Such alternatives, the lawsuit explained, can be paper pay stubs or "screen scraping" in which customers share logins or screenshots of their work and financial information. 

Some of the lawsuit's claims come from confidential witnesses, former Equifax employees whose comments to counsel for the complaint are redacted from the public-facing suit. The filing also doesn't describe dollar amounts related to Equifax's partner agreements. 

The brokerages cite other pushback against Equifax from both the government and industry players. The Federal Trade Commission entered into a consent order with EWS, then known as TALX, in 2008 over its series of acquisitions; that ended in 2018. Argyle and Certree, two EWS competitors, also raised concerns to the FTC in 2022 over the VOIE market's consolidation. 

Attorneys also suggested EWS has produced flawed results that have harmed mortgage applicants and other borrowers, and referenced its prominent history of not protecting consumer data. 

The proposed class includes individuals or companies that purchased VOIE services from Equifax from May 28, 2020 to the present. In addition to seeking an end to Equifax's antitrust behavior, plaintiffs want unspecified damages that could be tripled upon judgment. 

The company, in responding to criticisms by the CHLA in March, pointed out its VOIE fees are less than 1% of the approximately $12,485 it costs to originate a home loan.