RealPage has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission resolving all matters raised by the previously disclosed FTC investigation of RealPage’s tenant screening solution. Under the settlement, RealPage will pay $3.0 million to the FTC and agreed to continue to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The settlement, which takes the form of a Stipulated Order, resolves the matter with the FTC, and does not require any changes to RealPage’s current business practices.
During its investigation, the FTC questioned the accuracy of a minuscule fraction of RealPage’s screening report results. The FTC’s investigation centered on certain “soft” matching practices for consumers with common last names. The FTC was unable to identify any prior industry or regulatory guidance or other clear legal precedent that RealPage should have followed. No judicial findings of fact were made and, as set forth in the Stipulated Order, RealPage makes no admission of wrongdoing. All of the practices identified by the FTC predated RealPage’s release of innovative new matching logic in September 2017.
We were disappointed that the FTC singled out RealPage for an issue that has confronted the entire screening industry, namely how to match applicants with common last names to public records when most courts do not make social security or driver’s license numbers available as part of those records. We believe our newest matching technology provides market-leading accuracy in spite of these challenges. While we disagree with the FTC’s assertions, we agreed to settle this matter in order to avoid the expense and distraction of litigation.
For additional information about certain financial effects of the settlement, please see the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by RealPage with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 16, 2018.