In effect, the Vivint rep tricked the system into approving a new account for an unqualified customer by illegally using the credit history of a random person who just happened to have the same name – and a better credit score. The sales rep would enter that unrelated person’s address as a “previous address” in the Street Genie app and re-run the credit check. One method was called “white paging.” As explained in the complaint, the Vivint employee would use the white pages to find an unrelated person with a name that was the same as or similar to the customer who just failed the credit check. What happened if the potential customer didn’t qualify for the loan? According to the lawsuit, some of Vivint’s commission-only reps used two illegal practices to make the sale. As part of the process, the Vivint sales rep used Street Genie to check the person’s credit report. The typical Vivint security set-up costs $1,000 or more, so most customers were interested in financing. Vivint equipped its sales reps with tablets loaded with a proprietary system called Street Genie that managed the onboarding process for new customers, including credit verification. One channel the company uses to get new customers is its door-to-door sales force, many of whom work just in the summer and on a commission-only basis. and Canada, Vivint is a big name in the business. With more than 1.5 million customers in the U.S. The complaint charges that Vivint violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the FTC Act, and the Red Flags Rule. For example, when a prospective customer couldn’t qualify for financing, the FTC says Vivint’s sales representatives found another person with a similar name and then qualified the customer using that person’s credit report. But according to the FTC, Vivint engaged in some identity deception of its own. One purpose of the company’s products is to help residents ensure that people at their front door are who they say they are. There’s a certain irony in the FTC’s record-setting $20 million settlement with Vivint Smart Home, a national seller of smart home technology platforms, including security devices and monitoring services. About the FTC Show/hide About the FTC menu items.News and Events Show/hide News and Events menu items.Advice and Guidance Show/hide Advice and Guidance menu items.Competition and Consumer Protection Guidance Documents.Enforcement Show/hide Enforcement menu items.
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