I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5677 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide protections for extended 

active duty uniformed consumers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 24, 2020 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide protections for extended active duty uniformed consumers, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Credit Reporting 

5 for Servicemembers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CON7 SUMER. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 603 of the Fair Credit 

9 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (q), by amending paragraph 

2 (1) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMER.— 

4 The term ‘active duty uniformed consumer’ means a 

5 consumer who is— 

6 ‘‘(A) in military service and on active serv7 ice (as defined in section 101(d) of title 10, 

8 United States Code); or 

9 ‘‘(B) a member of the uniformed services 

10 (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United 

11 States Code) who is not a member of the armed 

12 forces and is on active service.’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(bb) EXTENDED ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CON15 SUMER.—The term ‘extended active duty uniformed con16 sumer’ means an active duty uniformed consumer that is 

17 deployed— 

18 ‘‘(1) in a combat zone (as defined under section 

19 112(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986); or 

20 ‘‘(2) aboard a United States vessel.’’. 

21 (b) PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING CERTAIN ADVERSE

22 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS.—Section 605 of 

23 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is 

24 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(9) Any item of adverse information about a 

4 consumer, if the action or inaction that gave rise to 

5 the item occurred while the consumer was an ex6 tended active duty uniformed consumer.’’; and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(i) NOTICE OF STATUS AS AN EXTENDED ACTIVE

9 DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMER.—With respect to an item 

10 of adverse information about a consumer, if the action or 

11 inaction that gave rise to the item occurred while the con12 sumer was an extended active duty uniformed consumer, 

13 the consumer may provide appropriate proof, including of14 ficial orders, to a consumer reporting agency that the con15 sumer was an extended active duty uniformed consumer 

16 at the time such action or inaction occurred. The con17 sumer reporting agency shall promptly delete that item of 

18 adverse information from the file of the consumer and no19 tify the consumer and the furnisher of the information of 

20 the deletion.’’. 

21 (c) COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE CONSUMER

22 AND CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES.—Section 605A 

23 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c–1) is 

24 amended— 

25 (1) in subsection (c)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘Upon’’ and inserting the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon’’; 

4 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), 

5 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), 

6 and moving such redesignated subparagraphs 2 

7 ems to the right; and 

8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) NEGATIVE INFORMATION ALERT.—Any 

10 time a consumer reporting agency receives an item 

11 of adverse information about a consumer, if the con12 sumer has provided appropriate proof that the con13 sumer is an extended active duty uniformed con14 sumer, the consumer reporting agency shall prompt15 ly notify the consumer— 

16 ‘‘(A) that the agency has received such 

17 item of adverse information, along with a de18 scription of the item; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the method by which the consumer 

20 can dispute the validity of the item. 

21 ‘‘(3) CONTACT INFORMATION FOR EXTENDED

22 ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMERS.—With re23 spect to any consumer that has provided appropriate 

24 proof to a consumer reporting agency that the con25 sumer is an extended active duty uniformed conVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jan 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5677.IH H5677

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1 sumer, if the consumer provides the consumer re2 porting agency with separate contact information to 

3 be used when communicating with the consumer 

4 while the consumer is an extended active duty uni5 formed consumer, the consumer reporting agency 

6 shall use such contact information for all commu7 nications while the consumer is an extended active 

8 duty uniformed consumer.’’; and 

9 (2) in subsection (e), by amending paragraph 

10 (3) to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(3) subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 

12 (c)(1), in the case of a referral under subsection 

13 (c)(1)(C).’’. 

14 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The Fair Credit 

15 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by 

16 striking ‘‘active duty military’’ each place such term ap17 pears and inserting ‘‘active duty uniformed’’. 

18 (e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con19 gress that any person making use of a consumer report 

20 containing an item of adverse information should, if the 

21 action or inaction that gave rise to the item occurred while 

22 the consumer was an extended active duty uniformed con23 sumer, take such fact into account when evaluating the 

24 creditworthiness of the consumer. 

Æ 


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