I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2035

To prevent identity theft, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2003

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon (for herself, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. 

FROST, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. KANJORSKI, Ms. CARSON

of Indiana, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. 

PLATTS, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. BAKER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. CLAY, Ms. 

BERKLEY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. 

KIND, Ms. LEE, Mr. MOORE, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. EMANUEL, 

Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. WATSON, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. 

MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. WATERS, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. TIBERI, and 

Mr. GONZALEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To prevent identity theft, 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 ‘‘Identity Theft and Fi5 nancial Privacy Protection Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) the crime of identity theft has become one 

4 of the major law enforcement challenges of the new 

5 economy, as vast quantities of sensitive, personal in6 formation are now vulnerable to criminal intercep7 tion and misuse; 

8 (2) according to the Attorney General, ‘‘in addi9 tion to the credit card and financial fraud crimes 

10 often committed, identity theft is a major facilitator 

11 of international terrorism’’; 

12 (3) a number of indicators reveal that, despite 

13 increased public awareness of the crime, the inci14 dents of identity theft continue to rise; 

15 (4) 1,000,000 consumers annually call the 

16 Fraud Victim Assistance Department of one national 

17 consumer reporting agency, a number that almost 

18 doubled from 1997 to 2001; 

19 (5) between January and December of 2002, 

20 the complaint database operated by the Federal 

21 Trade Commission received 380,103 consumer fraud 

22 and identity theft complaints, with reported losses 

23 from fraud of more than $343,000,000; 

24 (6) allegations of identity theft reported to the 

25 fraud hotline of the Social Security Administration 
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1 increased from 11,058 in fiscal year 1998 to 46,480 

2 in fiscal year 2000; 

3 (7) in its fiscal year 2000 annual report, the 

4 Postal Inspection Service noted that identity theft is 

5 a growing trend and the agency’s investigations of 

6 such crimes has ‘‘increased by 67 percent since last 

7 year’’; 

8 (8) an integral part of many identity crimes in9 volves the interception of personal financial data or 

10 the fraudulent acquisition of credit cards and other 

11 financial products in another person’s name; 

12 (9) identity theft is an act that violates the pri13 vacy of our citizens and ruins their good names, vic14 tims can suffer restricted access to credit and dimin15 ished employment opportunities, and may spend 

16 years repairing damage to credit histories; 

17 (10) the resources available to identity theft vic18 tims are inadequate, and both private sector and 

19 Federal agencies should provide better and more 

20 sympathetic assistance to such victims; and 

21 (11) credit reporting agencies and issuers of 

22 credit should have uniform reporting requirements 

23 and effective fraud alerts to assist identity theft vic24 tims in repairing and protecting their credit. 
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1 SEC. 3. IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION. 

2 (a) CHANGES OF ADDRESS.—

3 (1) DUTY OF ISSUERS OF CREDIT.—Section 

4 132 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1642) 

5 is amended—

6 (A) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ be7 fore ‘‘No credit’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(b) CONFIRMATION OF CHANGES OF ADDRESS.—If 

10 a card issuer receives a request for an additional credit 

11 card with respect to an existing credit account not later 

12 than 30 days after receiving notification of a change of 

13 address for that account, the card issuer shall—

14 ‘‘(1) notify the cardholder of the request at 

15 both the new address and the former address in ac16 cordance with reasonable policies and procedures es17 tablished by the card issuer pursuant to regulations 

18 which the Board shall prescribe; and 

19 ‘‘(2) provide to the cardholder a means of 

20 promptly reporting incorrect changes.’’. 

21 (2) DUTY OF CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN22 CIES.—Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

23 (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following: 

25 ‘‘(g) NOTICE OF POTENTIAL FRAUD.—In any case 

26 in which a person has requested a consumer report relat-
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1 ing to a consumer, and the request includes an address 

2 for the consumer that substantially differs from the most 

3 recent address in the file of the consumer, the consumer 

4 reporting agency shall—

5 ‘‘(1) notify the requester of the discrepancy; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(2) reconcile or resolve any substantial vari8 ation between the most recent address in the file of 

9 the consumer at the agency and the address con10 tained in the request, in accordance with reasonable 

11 policies and procedures established by the consumer 

12 reporting agency.’’. 

13 (3) ENFORCEMENT.—

14 (A) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—Ex15 cept as provided in subparagraph (B), compli16 ance with section 132(b) of the Truth in Lend17 ing Act (as added by this subsection) shall be 

18 enforced by the Federal Trade Commission in 

19 the same manner and with the same power and 

20 authority as the Commission has under the 

21 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to enforce 

22 compliance with that Act. 

23 (B) OTHER AGENCIES IN CERTAIN

24 CASES.—
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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Compliance with 

2 section 132(b) of the Truth in Lending Act

3 (as added by this subsection) shall be en4 forced under—

5 (I) section 8 of the Federal De6 posit Insurance Act, in the case of a 

7 card issuer that is—

8 (aa) a national bank or a 

9 Federal branch or Federal agen10 cy of a foreign bank, by the Of11 fice of the Comptroller of the 

12 Currency; 

13 (bb) a member bank of the 

14 Federal Reserve System (other 

15 than a national bank), a branch 

16 or agency of a foreign bank 

17 (other than a Federal branch, 

18 Federal agency, or insured State 

19 branch of a foreign bank), a com20 mercial lending company owned 

21 or controlled by a foreign bank, 

22 or an organization operating 

23 under section 25 or 25A of the 

24 Federal Reserve Act, by the 
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1 Board of Governors of the Fed2 eral Reserve System; 

3 (cc) a bank insured by the 

4 Federal Deposit Insurance Cor5 poration (other than a member of 

6 the Federal Reserve System or a 

7 national nonmember bank) or an 

8 insured State branch of a foreign 

9 bank, by the Board of Directors 

10 of the Federal Deposit Insurance 

11 Corporation; and 

12 (dd) a savings association, 

13 the deposits of which are insured 

14 by the Federal Deposit Insurance 

15 Corporation, by the Director of

16 the Office of Thrift Supervision; 

17 and 

18 (II) the Federal Credit Union 

19 Act, by the Administrator of the Na20 tional Credit Union Administration in 

21 the case of a card issuer that is a 

22 Federal credit union, as defined in 

23 that Act. 

24 (C) VIOLATIONS TREATED AS VIOLATIONS

25 OF OTHER LAWS.—For the purpose of the exer-
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1 cise by any agency referred to in this paragraph 

2 of its powers under any Act referred to in this 

3 paragraph, a violation of section 132(b) of the 

4 Truth in Lending Act (as added by this sub5 section) shall be deemed to be a violation of a 

6 requirement imposed under that Act. In addi7 tion to its powers under any provision of law 

8 specifically referred to in subparagraph (A) or 

9 (B), each of the agencies referred to in those 

10 subparagraphs may exercise, for the purpose of 

11 enforcing compliance with section 132(b) of the 

12 Truth in Lending Act (as added by this sub13 section), any other authority conferred on such 

14 agency by law. 

15 (b) FRAUD ALERTS.—Section 605 of the Fair Credit 

16 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding 

17 at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(h) FRAUD ALERTS.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the request of a con20 sumer who expresses a suspicion that the consumer 

21 has been or is about to become a victim of fraud or 

22 related crime, and upon receiving proper identifica23 tion, a consumer reporting agency shall include a 

24 fraud alert in the file of that consumer. 
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1 ‘‘(2) NOTICE TO USERS.—A consumer reporting 

2 agency shall notify each person procuring consumer 

3 credit information with respect to a consumer of the 

4 existence of a fraud alert in the file of that con5 sumer, regardless of whether a full credit report, 

6 credit score, or summary report is requested. 

7 ‘‘(3) PENALTIES.—Any user of a consumer re8 port who issues or extends credit in the name of the 

9 consumer to a person other than the consumer with10 out attempting to comply with the preauthorization 

11 procedures contained in a fraud alert in effect for 

12 such consumer shall be in violation of this section. 

13 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

14 ‘fraud alert’ means a clear and conspicuous state15 ment in the file of a consumer that notifies all pro16 spective users of a consumer report made with re17 spect to that consumer that the consumer does not 

18 authorize the issuance or extension of credit in the 

19 name of the consumer unless— 

20 ‘‘(A) the issuer of such credit first obtains 

21 verbal authorization from the consumer at a 

22 telephone number designated by the consumer; 

23 or 

24 ‘‘(B) the issuer of such credit utilizes an25 other reasonable means of communication to 
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1 obtain the express preauthorization of the con2 sumer. 

3 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTIONS.—

4 ‘‘(A) RESELLERS.—

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of 

6 this subsection shall not apply to a con7 sumer reporting agency that acts as a re8 seller of information by assembling and 

9 merging information contained in the data10 base of another consumer reporting agency 

11 or multiple consumer reporting agencies, 

12 and does not maintain a permanent data13 base of the assembled or merged informa14 tion from which new consumer reports are 

15 produced. 

16 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—A reseller of as17 sembled or merged information shall pre18 serve any fraud alert placed on a consumer 

19 report by another consumer reporting 

20 agency. 

21 ‘‘(B) EXEMPT INSTITUTIONS.—The re22 quirement under this subsection to place a 

23 fraud alert in a consumer file shall not apply 

24 to—
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1 ‘‘(i) a check services company, which 

2 issues authorizations for the purpose of ap3 proving or processing negotiable instru4 ments, electronic funds transfers, or simi5 lar methods of payments; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) a demand deposit account infor7 mation service company, which issues re8 ports regarding account closures due to 

9 fraud, substantial overdrafts, ATM abuse, 

10 or similar negative information regarding a 

11 consumer, to inquiring banks or other fi12 nancial institutions for use only in review13 ing a consumer request for a demand de14 posit account at the inquiring bank or fi15 nancial institution.’’. 

16 (c) RULES ON COMPLAINT REFERRAL, INVESTIGA17 TIONS, AND INQUIRIES.—Not later than 365 days after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Com19 mission (in this subsection referred to as the ‘‘Commis20 sion’’) shall prescribe rules in accordance with section 553 

21 of title 5, United States Code—

22 (1) to develop procedures for referral of con23 sumer complaints about identity theft and fraud 

24 alerts between and among the consumer reporting 

25 agencies and the Commission; and 
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1 (2) to develop a model form and standard pro2 cedures to be used by consumers who are victims of 

3 identity fraud for contacting and informing creditors 

4 and consumer reporting agencies of the fraud. 

5 SEC. 4. TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT CARD 

6 ACCOUNT NUMBERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this section, 

8 no person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or 

9 limited liability company that accepts credit cards or debit 

10 cards for the transaction of business shall print more than 

11 the last 4 digits of the credit card account number or the 

12 expiration date upon any receipt provided to the card13 holder at the point of the sale or transaction. 

14 (b) LIMITATION.—This section applies only to re15 ceipts that are electronically printed, and does not apply 

16 to transactions in which the sole means of recording the 

17 person’s credit card or debit card account number is by 

18 handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the credit card 

19 or debit card. 

20 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

21 following definitions shall apply: 

22 (1) CREDIT CARD.—The term ‘‘credit card’’ has 

23 the same meaning as in section 103(k) of the Truth 

24 in Lending Act. 
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1 (2) DEBIT CARD.—The term ‘‘debit card’’ 

2 means any card issued by a financial institution to 

3 a consumer for use in initiating electronic fund 

4 transfers (as defined in section 903(6) of the Elec5 tronic Fund Transfer Act) from the account of the 

6 consumer at such financial institution for the pur7 pose of transferring money between accounts or ob8 taining money, property, labor, or services. 

9 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall become ef10 fective on—

11 (1) January 1, 2007, with respect to any cash 

12 register or other machine or device that electroni13 cally prints receipts for credit card transactions that 

14 is in use before January 1, 2005; and 

15 (2) January 1, 2005, with respect to any cash 

16 register or other machine or device that electroni17 cally prints receipts for credit card transactions that 

18 is first put into use on or after such date. 

19 SEC. 5. FREE REPORTS ANNUALLY. 

20 Section 612(c) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 1681j(c)) is amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(c) FREE ANNUAL DISCLOSURE.—Upon the request 

23 of the consumer, a consumer reporting agency shall make 
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1 all disclosures pursuant to section 609 once during any 

2 12-month period without charge to the consumer.’’.

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