Dun & Bradstreet Faces $5.7 Million Penalty for Failing to Honor FTC Order

Key Takeaways

• Settlement Amount: Dun & Bradstreet will pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations it violated a 2022 FTC order.
• Refunds and Penalties: The payout includes $3.7 million in refunds to customers and over $2 million in civil penalties.
• Violations: The company allegedly misled subscribers about prices, claimed paid products would improve credit scores, and failed to retain required sales call recordings.
• Compliance Measures: D&B must implement a comprehensive compliance program, hire a third-party quality monitor, and have leadership certify annual compliance.

Deep Dive

Dun & Bradstreet, the well-known business credit reporting firm, is once again in the regulatory spotlight. The company has agreed to pay $5.7 million after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused it of flouting a 2022 order meant to curb deceptive practices.

The settlement, filed by the Department of Justice in federal court in Florida, resolves claims that D&B misled customers, overcharged for services, and ignored compliance safeguards that regulators had already put in place.

The FTC says D&B broke the terms of its earlier order in several ways. The company allegedly failed to tell some subscribers the true list price of their services before automatically renewing them. Employees were also accused of telling businesses that buying certain paid products would boost their credit scores, something the FTC flatly prohibits. On top of that, D&B failed to keep required call recordings for product offers tied to automatic renewals, making it harder to verify whether sales pitches were above board.

The alleged lapses came just three years after the company settled similar accusations that it misled businesses about the value of its credit products and failed to fix mistakes in business credit reports.

Financial and Compliance Fallout

Under the new agreement, D&B will pay $3.7 million in refunds to customers and more than $2 million in civil penalties. But the settlement goes further than money: D&B must bring in an independent quality-assurance monitor to review its telemarketing, set up a more robust compliance program, and have its leadership personally certify each year that the company is following the rules. The company is also required to quickly alert the FTC if it slips up again in areas like automatic renewals or data accuracy.

Christopher Mufarrige, who heads the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, signaled that the case is part of a broader crackdown.

“Our signed orders are not suggestions,” he said. “This settlement is another example of the Bureau’s effort to reinvigorate its fraud program and protect small businesses from deceptive and unlawful conduct.”

For D&B, a company many small businesses rely on for credit reports and risk data, the case is a reputational hit. For regulators, it’s a chance to show they’re taking a harder line on firms that don’t live up to promises made in earlier enforcement actions.

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