Mere days before it begins supervising consumer reporting agencies, a study released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday compared the credit scores sold to lenders to those provided to consumers and found that the latter group often gets different information. According to the research, roughly one out of five consumers receives a “meaningfully different” score.

The comparison was among directives specified by the Dodd-Frank Act when it created the new agency. The intent was to determine if there were differences and whether they harm consumers.

The new study analyzed scores from 200,000 credit files at the TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian credit bureaus. It points out that the difference in scores means that many consumers would likely qualify for different credit offers – either better or worse – than they would expect to get based on the score they purchased.

The Bureau will begin supervising consumer reporting agencies on Sept. 30. That supervisory authority will cover about 30 companies that account for nearly 94 percent of the market's annual receipts. Examiners will be looking to verify that consumer reporting companies are complying with federal consumer financial law, including that the companies are using and providing accurate information, handling consumer disputes, making disclosures available, and preventing fraud and identity theft.