NOTE — The section of this ACL regarding the Work Number being used in conjunction with, but not in lieu of, existing income and eligibility sources, is superseded by ACL 21-23.
CDSS has instructions to counties about SB 1232 regarding county welfare department use of consumer credit reports. An example of a consumer credit report is a report from “The Work Number.” These requirements are mandatory effective January 1, 2017.
Counties cannot obtain consumer credit reports without written authorization of the applicant or recipient. Consumer credit reports can be used in conjunction with existing fraud detection resources. Consumer credit reports cannot be used as the only means of verification. The SAWS 2 Plus, CF 285 and CF 37 have been modified to include authorization for counties to obtain consumer credit reports.
If a county takes adverse action based on information in a consumer credit report, the county must provide an informing notice in addition to the notice of action. The informing notice must include the name, address and telephone number of the consumer credit reporting agency, a statement that the consumer credit reporting agency did not make the decision, a statement of the right to free disclosure from the consumer credit reporting agency within 60 days and a statement of the right to dispute the accuracy of the information with the consumer credit reporting agency.
Information from a consumer credit report must be made available to an applicant or recipient who requests it from the county welfare department or if an applicant requests a fair hearing to regarding the information in the consumer credit report. Note that information received from “The Work Number” is not considered verified upon receipt for CalFresh. ACL 16-118 (December 30, 2016).