Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Dun & Bradstreet agrees to $5.7 million settlement with the FTC, (Sep 30, 2025)

By Donielle Tigay Stutland, J.D.

The FTC’s complaint stems from allegations that D&B violated a 2022 order related to deceiving businesses and failing to update errors on business credit reports.

The FTC announced that business credit report service provider Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) has agreed to a $5.7 million settlement in connection with allegations that it violated a 2022 order. The FTC alleges that D&B engaged in violations including providing inaccurate information about its products to customers before renewing their subscription services, leading to overcharging, and misrepresenting that purchasing fee-based products will improve these customers’ credit scores. The DOJ filed a complaint on behalf of the FTC against the business credit report service provider in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The FTC indicated that its vote to authorize the staff to refer the complaint to the DOJ and to approve the stipulated final order was 3-0 (U.S. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., FTC File No. C4761, No. 3:25-cv-01158 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 29, 2025)).

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

2022 Order. The 2022 order settled FTC allegations that Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) deceived businesses about the value of products and failed to correct errors on business credit reports. The order required D&B to notify its customers of certain material facts before automatically renewing subscriptions for its paid services. It also prohibited D&B from using automatic renewal to switch a subscriber into a more expensive product that the subscriber did not order. And it prohibited D&B from misrepresenting to customers any material fact about the price or features of any product and to retain records of its telemarketing calls.

Complaint. The FTC filed a complaint against D&B in the federal district court for the middle district of Florida, alleging that D&B violated the 2022 Order by:

• Failing to accurately inform, in notifications required by the 2022 Order, some customers of their product’s list price before automatically renewing;

• Failing to ensure that D&B’s employees did not misrepresent to potential customers that purchasing fee-based products will help improve their business’s credit score; and

• Failing to retain required voice recordings for oral offers of products that D&B automatically renews.

Proposed settlement. D&B has agreed to modify the 2022 Order to address allegations in the September 29, 2025 complaint. According to the FTC, under the proposed order, D&B will be required to pay a total of $5.7 million, including $3.7 million that will be used for refunds to consumers and over $2 million in civil penalties for violating the 2022 order.

D&B has agreed to several additional steps to ensure compliance with the order. D&B agreed to:

• Maintain the use of a third-party quality assurance provider to track whether company telemarketing employees are making misrepresentations;

• Implement and maintain a comprehensive compliance program;

• Ensure D&B’s leadership certifies annually that the company is complying with the order; and

• Notify the FTC within 60 days of any instances in which it fails to comply with the Commission order involving certain auto renewals of products, problems with updating D&B’s trade data, and retention of records.

Attorneys: Lacy R. Harwell, U.S. Attorney's Office, for the U.S.

Companies: Dunn & Bradstreet Inc.

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews