Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Demand Major Credit Bureau CEOs Protect Student Loan Borrowers

Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Demand Major Credit Bureau CEOs Protect Student Loan Borrowers

Senators: Inaccurate Credit Reports Increase Financial Burden on Student Loan Borrowers and Prevent Them From Obtaining Strong Financial Standing

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined Democratic Senate colleagues today in demanding the CEOs of three major credit report bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, immediately take steps to fix their firms' administrative and technical issues that have burdened student loan borrowers with inaccurate credit report errors and higher interest rates.

"If just one data point is reported incorrectly by the servicer and the credit reporting company does not address the error, a borrower's credit score could be adversely affected," the senators wrote. "Borrowers with incorrectly low credit scores may be wrongfully denied access to mortgages, rental opportunities, credit cards, auto loans, or even employment opportunities."

With the Trump Administration's illegal attempt to close the Department of Education (ED) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency tasked with overseeing credit reporting agencies, major credit reporters are more likely to get away with reporting student loan borrowers' credit scores inaccurately due to their own administrative technical errors. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires credit reporting agencies to ensure that inaccurate data does not appear on credit reports or affect a borrower's credit score.

In the letter, the senators asked the CEOs of Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to comply with the FCRA, and develop rigorous safeguards so that inaccurate data is not allowed into the credit reports of hundreds of thousands student loan borrowers across America by June 30, 2026.

"If borrowers' credit scores are affected by payments missed because of factors outside of their control, those credit scores would be far less predictive of a borrower's ability to repay future debts, undermining the essential purpose of a credit score. Even a former Trump administration official has alleged that ED's failure to address barriers to repayment casts doubt on the fairness and accuracy of borrowers' credit scores," the senators continued.

As the federal employees tasked with overseeing credit bureaus and student loan repayment programs have lost their jobs, companies have taken advantage of the federal government's diminished lack of oversight. In 2025, Experian resolved fewer than 1% of complaints in the consumer's favor, compared to about 20% in 2024. In 2024, a Congressional investigation uncovered that credit reporting companies inaccurately generated credit scores for hundreds of thousands of borrowers after processing inaccurate data.

In March of 2026, Wyden joined his colleagues in introducing legislation to restore student loan assistance for graduate and professional students, including social workers, nurses, and educators.

Previously, Merkley led a group of over 60 lawmakers-including Wyden-in urging the Trump administration to address the largest student loan default crisis on record.

The letter was led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) In addition to Wyden and Merkley, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md).

The text of the letter is here.

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