FTC rules CoreLogic didn't comply with 2014 RealtyTrac agreement

CoreLogic will have to provide property data to Attom Data Solution's RealtyTrac unit for three additional years to resolve allegations it did not adhere to a 2014 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission.

In July 2013, CoreLogic agreed to purchase DataQuick and Marshall & Swift/Boeckh from the TPG Group for $611 million. But the FTC objected to the deal on antitrust grounds, saying it would substantially reduce competition among property data providers.

So to be able to complete the transaction CoreLogic agreed to a settlement that required it to license to RealtyTrac national assessor and recorder bulk data as well as several ancillary data sets that DataQuick provided to its customers.

The original order required CoreLogic to provide this information over a five-year period to end in March 2019. However, the agency alleged CoreLogic "did not provide all of the required data and information by the deadlines in the order.

"CoreLogic also did not adequately identify and provide to RealtyTrac the full scope of bulk data and information DataQuick used in the bulk data market," according to the FTC.

The revised order, which the FTC board approved on a vote of one in favor, one abstention and one recusal, extends the term of the agreement to March 2022. The order includes a service level addendum and technical transfer plan that clarifies CoreLogic's obligations to RealtyTrac.

CoreLogic disputed the allegations but elected to enter in to the new consent agreement, according to the FTC press release. CoreLogic declined to comment on the revised agreement.

"Attom is pleased with the modified order from the FTC as it addresses deficiencies that our data governance team identified earlier on," said Rob Barber, CEO of RealtyTrac's parent Attom Data Solutions, in an emailed statement.

"In light of this, our operations team took pro-active steps to multi-source the tax, deed and mortgage data, ensuring that our data licensing customers were not adversely impacted by the deficiencies from this particular source, but it is encouraging that the FTC has now recognized those deficiencies and is requiring corrective action," he said.

The agreement is subject to a comment period that began on March 15 and runs until April 16, at which time the FTC will decide to withdraw, modify or make the consent agreement final.

"RealtyTrac discovered that it was missing data that DataQuick has provided to bulk data customers," according to an analysis of the agreement linked to the FTC press release. "RealtyTrac continued to uncover additional missing data for at least the next two years. When RealtyTrac contacted CoreLogic about the missing data, CoreLogic provided the data, but at a time well after the deadline for providing data in the order."

There were also problems with third party data that CoreLogic was supposed to share with RealtyTrac under the original agreement.

As part of the three-year extension, CoreLogic must provide customers early termination rights until nine months after completion of the first portion of the technical transfer plan. It must also provide technical assistance to RealtyTrac until one year after completion of the plan.

However, the agreement also reduces the frequency of compliance reports to every 60 days from every 90 days. This aims to reduce the burden on CoreLogic without reducing FTC's ability to monitor compliance.