108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2622

AN ACT

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to prevent identity

theft, improve resolution of consumer disputes, improve

the accuracy of consumer records, make improvements

in the use of, and consumer access to, credit information,

and for other purposes.
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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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act are as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Definitions.

Sec. 3. Effective dates.

TITLE I—UNIFORM NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION

STANDARDS

Sec. 101. Uniform national consumer protection standards made permanent.

TITLE II—IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION

Sec. 201. Investigating changes of address and inactive accounts.

Sec. 202. Fraud alerts.

Sec. 203. Truncation of credit card and debit card account numbers.

Sec. 204. Summary of rights of identity theft victims.

Sec. 205. Blocking of information resulting from identity theft.

Sec. 206. Establishment of procedures for depository institutions to identify

possible instances of identity theft.

Sec. 207. Study on the use of technology to combat identity theft.

TITLE III—IMPROVING RESOLUTION OF CONSUMER DISPUTES

Sec. 301. Coordination of consumer complaint investigations.

Sec. 302. Notice of dispute through reseller.

Sec. 303. Reasonable investigation required.

Sec. 304. Duties of furnishers of information.

Sec. 305. Prompt investigation of disputed consumer information.

TITLE IV—IMPROVING ACCURACY OF CONSUMER RECORDS

Sec. 401. Reconciling addresses.

Sec. 402. Prevention of repollution of consumer reports.

Sec. 403. Notice by users with respect to fraudulent information.

Sec. 404. Disclosure to consumers of contact information for users and furnishers of information in consumer reports.

Sec. 405. FTC study of the accuracy of consumer reports.

TITLE V—IMPROVEMENTS IN USE OF AND CONSUMER ACCESS

TO CREDIT INFORMATION

Sec. 501. Free reports annually.

Sec. 502. Disclosure of credit scores.
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Sec. 503. Simpler and easier method for consumers to use notification system.

Sec. 504. Requirement to disclose communications to a consumer reporting

agency.

Sec. 505. Study of effects of credit scores and credit-based insurance scores on

availability and affordability of financial products.

Sec. 506. GAO study on disparate impact of credit system.

Sec. 507. Analysis of further restrictions on offers of credit or insurance.

Sec. 508. Study on the need and the means for improving financial literacy

among consumers.

Sec. 509. Disclosure of increase in APR under certain circumstances.

TITLE VI—PROTECTING EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT

INVESTIGATIONS

Sec. 601. Certain employee investigation communications excluded from definition of consumer report.

TITLE VII—LIMITING THE USE AND SHARING OF MEDICAL

INFORMATION IN THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Sec. 701. Protection of medical information in the financial system.

Sec. 702. Confidentiality of medical information in credit reports.

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

3 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new subsections:

5 ‘‘(r) RESELLER.—The term ‘reseller’ means a con6 sumer reporting agency that—

7 ‘‘(1) assembles and merges information con8 tained in the database of another consumer report9 ing agency or multiple consumer reporting agencies

10 concerning any consumer for purposes of furnishing

11 such information to any third party, to the extent of

12 such activities; and

13 ‘‘(2) does not maintain a database of the as14 sembled or merged information from which new con15 sumer reports are produced.
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1 ‘‘(s) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—

2 ‘‘(1) BOARD; CREDIT; CREDITOR; CREDIT

3 CARD.—The terms ‘Board’, ‘credit’, ‘creditor’, and

4 ‘credit card’ have the same meanings as in section

5 103 of the Truth in Lending Act.

6 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’

7 means the Federal Trade Commission.

8 ‘‘(3) DEBIT CARD.—The term ‘debit card’

9 means any card issued by a financial institution to

10 a consumer for use in initiating electronic fund

11 transfers (as defined in section 903(6) of the Elec12 tronic Fund Transfer Act) from the account (as de13 fined in such Act) of the consumer at such financial

14 institution for the purpose of transferring money be15 tween accounts or obtaining money, property, labor,

16 or services.

17 ‘‘(4) ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFER.—The term

18 ‘electronic fund transfer’ has the same meaning as

19 in section 903 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

20 ‘‘(5) FEDERAL BANKING AGENCY.—The term

21 ‘Federal banking agency’ has the same meaning as

22 in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

23 ‘‘(6) IDENTITY THEFT.—The term ‘identity

24 theft’ means a fraud committed using another per25 son’s identifying information, subject to such further
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1 definition as the Commission and the Board may

2 prescribe, jointly, by regulation.

3 ‘‘(7) POLICE REPORT.—The term ‘police report’

4 means a copy of any official valid report filed by a

5 consumer with any appropriate Federal, State, or

6 local government law enforcement agency, or any

7 comparable official government document that the

8 Board and the Commission shall jointly prescribe in

9 regulations, that is subject to a criminal penalty for

10 false statements.’’.

11 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATES.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections

13 (b) and (c)—

14 (1) before the end of the 2-month period begin15 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the

16 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

17 and the Federal Trade Commission shall jointly pre18 scribe regulations in final form establishing effective

19 dates for each provision of this Act (except as other20 wise specified); and

21 (2) the regulations prescribed under paragraph

22 (1) shall establish effective dates that are as early

23 as possible while allowing a reasonable time for the

24 implementation of the provisions of this Act, but in

25 no case shall the effective date be later than 10
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1 months after the date of issuance of such regula2 tions in final form.

3 (b) IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.—The following

4 provisions shall take effect on the date of the enactment

5 of this Act:

6 (1) Title I.

7 (2) Section 201.

8 (3) Section 609(d)(1) of the Fair Credit Re9 porting Act (as added by the amendment in section

10 204(a)).

11 (4) Section 305.

12 (5) Section 505.

13 (6) Section 506.

14 (7) Title VI.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR PROTECTION OF MEDICAL

16 INFORMATION IN THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM.—Section 701

17 shall take effect at the end of the 180-day period begin18 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, except that

19 paragraph (2) of section 604(g) of the Fair Credit Report20 ing Act (as added by section 701) shall take effect on the

21 later of—

22 (1) the end of the 90-day period beginning on

23 the date the regulations required under paragraph

24 (5)(B) of such section 604(g) (as added by section

25 701) are prescribed in final form; or
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1 (2) the date specified in the regulations referred

2 to in paragraph (1).

3 (d) CRITERIA FOR ORDERLY IMPLEMENTATION OF

4 FREE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT PROVISION.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—In developing the regula6 tions and effective dates under subsection (a) (and

7 subject to the time limits in paragraph (2) and sub8 section (a)), the Federal Trade Commission and the

9 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

10 shall provide a systematic approach for imple11 menting the amendment made by section 501 that

12 allows for an orderly transition to the consumer re13 port distribution system required by the amendment

14 in a manner that—

15 (A) does not temporarily overwhelm con16 sumer reporting agencies with requests for dis17 closures of consumer reports beyond their ca18 pacity to deliver; and

19 (B) does not deny creditors, other users,

20 and consumers access to consumer credit re21 ports on a time-sensitive basis for specific pur22 poses, such as home purchases or suspicions of

23 identity theft, during the transition period.

24 (2) PROHIBITION ON EXTENSION OF EFFEC25 TIVE DATE.—
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1 (A) ONE-TIME AUTHORIZATION.—The

2 Federal Trade Commission and the Board of

3 Governors of the Federal Reserve System may

4 exercise the authority provided under paragraph

5 (1) only once during the 2-month period re6 ferred to in subsection (a)(1).

7 (B) EXTENSION OF EFFECTIVE DATE PRO8 HIBITED.—No provision of this subsection shall

9 be construed as extending, or authorizing the

10 Federal Trade Commission or the Board of

11 Governors of the Federal Reserve System to ex12 tend, the 2-month period referred to in sub13 section (a)(1) or the 10-month period referred

14 to in subsection (a)(2) relating to the require15 ments imposed on consumer reporting agencies

16 by the amendment made by section 501.

17 TITLE I—UNIFORM NATIONAL

18 CONSUMER PROTECTION

19 STANDARDS

20 SEC. 101. UNIFORM NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION

21 STANDARDS MADE PERMANENT.

22 Section 624(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

23 U.S.C. 1681t(d)) is amended—

24 (1) by striking ‘‘Subsections (b) and (c)’’ and

25 all that follows through ‘‘do not affect any settle-
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1 ment,’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsections (b) and (c) do

2 not affect any settlement,’’; and

3 (2) by striking ‘‘Consumer Credit Reporting

4 Reform Act of 1996’’ and all that follows through

5 the period at the end of paragraph (2) and inserting

6 ‘‘Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996.’’.

7 TITLE II—IDENTITY THEFT

8 PREVENTION

9 SEC. 201. INVESTIGATING CHANGES OF ADDRESS AND IN10 ACTIVE ACCOUNTS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 605 of the Fair Credit

12 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by inserting

13 after subsection (f), the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(g) ‘RED FLAG’ PATTERNS OF POSSIBLE IDENTITY

15 THEFT.—

16 ‘‘(1) INVESTIGATION OF CHANGES OF AD17 DRESS.—The Federal banking agencies and the Na18 tional Credit Union Administration, in carrying out

19 the responsibilities of such agencies and Administra20 tion under subsection (k), shall jointly prescribe reg21 ulations for credit card and debit card issuers to en22 sure that, if any such issuer receives a request for

23 an additional or replacement card for an existing ac24 count within a short period of time after the issuer

25 has received notification of a change of address for
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1 the same account, the issuer will follow reasonable

2 policies and procedures that require, as appropriate,

3 that the issuer not issue the additional or replace4 ment card unless the issuer—

5 ‘‘(A) notifies the cardholder of the request

6 at the former address of the cardholder and

7 provides to the cardholder a means of promptly

8 reporting incorrect address changes;

9 ‘‘(B) notifies the cardholder of the request

10 by such other means of communication as the

11 cardholder and the card issuer previously

12 agreed to; or

13 ‘‘(C) uses other means of assessing the va14 lidity of the change of address, in accordance

15 with reasonable policies and procedures estab16 lished by the card issuer in accordance with the

17 regulations prescribed under subsection (k).

18 ‘‘(2) INACTIVE ACCOUNTS.—The Federal bank19 ing agencies and the National Credit Union Admin20 istration, in carrying out the responsibilities of such

21 agencies and Administration under subsection (k),

22 shall consider including, as a possible ‘red flag’ pat23 tern, reasonable guidelines providing that when a

24 transaction occurs with respect to a credit or deposit

25 account that has been inactive for more than 2
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1 years, the creditor or depository institution shall fol2 low reasonable policies and procedures that provide

3 for notice to be given to a consumer in a manner

4 reasonably designed to reduce the likelihood of iden5 tity theft with respect to such account.’’.

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—

7 (1) The heading for section 605 of the Fair

8 Credit Reporting Act is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘§ 605. Requirements relating to information con10 tained in consumer reports and to iden11 tity theft prevention’’.

12 (2) The table of sections for title VI of the Con13 sumer Credit Protection Act is amended by striking

14 the item relating to section 605 and inserting the

15 following new item:

‘‘605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports and

to identity theft prevention.’’.

16 (3) Section 624(b)(1)(E) of the Fair Credit Re17 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(1)(E)) is amended

18 by inserting ‘‘(and to specific identity theft preven19 tion subjects covered)’’ after ‘‘consumer reports’’.

20 SEC. 202. FRAUD ALERTS.

21 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

22 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding at the end the fol23 lowing new subsection:

24 ‘‘(i) ONE-CALL FRAUD ALERTS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) INITIAL ALERTS.—Upon the direct request

2 of a consumer, or an individual acting on behalf of

3 or as a personal representative of a consumer, who

4 asserts, in good faith, a suspicion that the consumer

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

6 related crime, including identity theft, a consumer

7 reporting agency described in section 603(p) shall, if

8 the agency maintains a file on the consumer who is

9 making the request and has a reasonable belief that

10 the agency knows the identity of the consumer—

11 ‘‘(A) include a fraud alert in the file of

12 that consumer for a period of not less than 90

13 days beginning on the date of such request, un14 less the consumer specifically requests that such

15 fraud alert be removed before the end of such

16 period;

17 ‘‘(B) disclose to the consumer that the con18 sumer may request a free copy of the file of the

19 consumer and provide the consumer, upon re20 quest, a free disclosure of the consumer’s file

21 (as described in section 609(a)) within 3 busi22 ness days after such request;

23 ‘‘(C) for 2 years after the date of such re24 quest, exclude the consumer from any list of

25 consumers prepared by the agency and provided
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1 to any third party to offer credit or insurance

2 to the consumer as part of a transaction that

3 was not initiated by the consumer, unless the

4 consumer subsequently requests that such ex5 clusion be rescinded before the end of such pe6 riod; and

7 ‘‘(D) refer the information regarding the

8 fraud alert to each of the other consumer re9 porting agencies described in section 603(p), as

10 required under section 621(f)(1).

11 ‘‘(2) EXTENDED ALERTS.—Upon the direct re12 quest of a consumer, or an individual acting on be13 half of or as a personal representative of a con14 sumer, who contacts a consumer reporting agency

15 described in section 603(p) to report details of an

16 identity theft and submits evidence that provides the

17 agency with reasonable cause to believe that such

18 identity theft has occurred, the agency shall, if the

19 agency maintains a file on the consumer who is

20 making the request and has a reasonable belief that

21 the agency knows the identity of the consumer—

22 ‘‘(A) include a fraud alert in the file of

23 that consumer and provide an opportunity for

24 the consumer to extend the alert for a period of

25 up to 7 years from the date of such request,
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1 unless the consumer subsequently requests that

2 such fraud alert be removed before the end of

3 such period;

4 ‘‘(B) provide the consumer with the option

5 of including more complete information in the

6 consumer’s file, including a telephone number

7 or some other reasonable means of communica8 tion that any person who requests the con9 sumer’s report may utilize for authorization be10 fore establishing a new credit plan in the name

11 of the consumer; and

12 ‘‘(C) provide the consumer with at least 2

13 free disclosures of the information described in

14 section 609(a) during the 12-month period be15 ginning on the date of such request.

16 ‘‘(3) ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS.—Upon the direct

17 request of an active duty military consumer, or an

18 individual acting on behalf of or as a personal rep19 resentative of an active duty military consumer, who

20 contacts a consumer reporting agency described in

21 section 603(p), the agency shall, if the agency main22 tains a file on the consumer who is making the re23 quest and has a reasonable belief that the agency

24 knows the identity of the consumer—
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1 ‘‘(A) include an active duty alert in the file

2 of that consumer during a period of not less

3 than 12 months beginning on the date of the

4 request, unless the consumer requests that such

5 active duty alert be removed before the end of

6 such period;

7 ‘‘(B) for 2 years after the date of such re8 quest, exclude the consumer from any list of

9 consumers prepared by the agency and provided

10 to any third party to offer credit or insurance

11 to the consumer as part of a transaction that

12 was not initiated by the consumer, unless the

13 consumer subsequently requests that such ex14 clusion be rescinded before the end of such pe15 riod; and

16 ‘‘(C) refer the information regarding the

17 active duty alert to each of the other consumer

18 reporting agencies described in section 603(p),

19 as required under section 621(f)(1).

20 ‘‘(4) PROCEDURES.—Each consumer reporting

21 agency described in section 603(p) shall establish

22 policies and procedures to comply with the obliga23 tions of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), including pro24 cedures that allow consumers to request initial, ex-
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1 tended, or active duty alerts in a simple and easy

2 manner, including by telephone.

3 ‘‘(5) NOTICE TO USERS.—No person who ob4 tains any information that includes a fraud alert

5 under this section from a file of any consumer from

6 a consumer reporting agency may establish a new

7 credit plan in the name of the consumer for a person

8 other than the consumer without utilizing reasonable

9 policies and procedures described in paragraph (9).

10 ‘‘(6) REFERRALS OF FRAUD ALERTS.—Each

11 consumer reporting agency described in section

12 603(p) that receives a referral of a fraud alert from

13 another such agency pursuant to paragraph (1)(D)

14 or (3)(C) shall follow the procedures required under

15 subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1),

16 in the case of a referral under paragraph (1)(D),

17 and subparagraphs (A) and (B), in the case of a

18 referral under paragraph (3)(C), as if the agency re19 ceived the request from the consumer directly.

20 ‘‘(7) DUTY OF RESELLER TO RECONVEY

21 ALERT.—A reseller that is notified of the existence

22 of a fraud alert in a consumer’s consumer report

23 shall communicate to each person procuring a con24 sumer report with respect to such consumer the ex25 istence of a fraud alert in effect for such consumer.
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1 ‘‘(8) DUTY OF OTHER CONSUMER REPORTING

2 AGENCIES TO PROVIDE CONTACT INFORMATION.—If

3 a consumer contacts any consumer reporting agency

4 that is not a consumer reporting agency described in

5 section 603(p) to communicate a suspicion that the

6 consumer has been or is about to become a victim

7 of fraud or related crime, including identity theft,

8 the agency shall provide the consumer with informa9 tion on how to contact the Commission and the con10 sumer reporting agencies described in section 603(p)

11 to obtain more detailed information and request

12 alerts under this subsection.

13 ‘‘(9) FRAUD ALERT.—

14 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this

15 subsection, the term ‘fraud alert’ means, at a

16 minimum, a statement—

17 ‘‘(i) in the file of a consumer that the

18 consumer may be a victim of fraud, includ19 ing identity theft, or is a consumer de20 scribed in paragraph (3); and

21 ‘‘(ii) that is transmitted in a manner

22 that facilitates a clear and conspicuous

23 view of the statement by any person re24 questing such file.
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1 ‘‘(B) OTHER INFORMATION.—A fraud alert

2 shall include information that notifies all pro3 spective users of a consumer report on the con4 sumer to which the alert relates that the con5 sumer does not authorize establishing any new

6 credit plan in the name of the consumer, unless

7 the user utilizes reasonable policies and proce8 dures to form a reasonable belief that the user

9 knows the identity of the person for whom such

10 new plan is established, which may include ob11 taining authorization or preauthorization of the

12 consumer at a telephone number designated by

13 the consumer or by such other reasonable

14 means agreed to.

15 ‘‘(10) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of

16 this subsection, the following definitions shall apply:

17 ‘‘(A) ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY CON18 SUMER.—The term ‘active duty military con19 sumer’ means a consumer in military service

20 who—

21 ‘‘(i) is on active duty (as defined in

22 section 101(d)(1) of title 10, United States

23 Code) or is a reservist performing duty

24 under a call or order to active duty under

25 a provision of law referred to in section
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1 101(a)(13) of title 10, United States Code;

2 and

3 ‘‘(ii) is assigned to service away from

4 the consumer’s usual duty station.

5 ‘‘(B) NEW CREDIT PLAN.—The term ‘new

6 credit plan’ means a new account under an

7 open end credit plan (as defined in section

8 103(i) of this Act) or a new credit transaction

9 not under an open end credit plan.’’.

10 SEC. 203. TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT CARD

11 ACCOUNT NUMBERS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 605 of the Fair Credit

13 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by inserting

14 after subsection (k) (as added by section 206 of this title)

15 the following new subsection:

16 ‘‘(l) TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT

17 CARD ACCOUNT NUMBERS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this

19 subsection, no person that accepts credit cards or

20 debit cards for the transaction of business shall

21 print the expiration date or more than the last 5

22 digits of the card number upon any receipt provided

23 to the cardholder at the point of the sale or trans24 action.
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1 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—This section shall apply

2 only to receipts that are electronically printed, and

3 shall not apply to transactions in which the sole

4 means of recording the person’s credit card or debit

5 card number is by handwriting or by an imprint or

6 copy of the card.’’.

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

8 subsection (a) shall apply after the end of—

9 (1) the 3-year period beginning on the date of

10 the enactment of this Act, with respect to any cash

11 register or other machine or device that electroni12 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit card

13 transactions that is in use before January 1, 2005;

14 and

15 (2) the 1-year period beginning on the date of

16 the enactment of this Act, with respect to any cash

17 register or other machine or device that electroni18 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit card

19 transactions that is first put into use on or after

20 January 1, 2005.

21 SEC. 204. SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC22 TIMS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 609 of the Fair Credit

24 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is amended by adding

25 at the end the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(d) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC2 TIMS.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, in con4 sultation with the Federal banking agencies and the

5 National Credit Union Administration, shall prepare

6 a model summary of the rights of consumers under

7 this title with respect to the procedures for rem8 edying the effects of fraud or identity theft involving

9 credit, electronic fund transfers, or accounts or

10 transactions at or with a financial institution.

11 ‘‘(2) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS AND CONTACT IN12 FORMATION.—If any consumer contacts a consumer

13 reporting agency and expresses a belief that the con14 sumer is a victim of fraud or identity theft involving

15 credit, electronic fund transfers, or accounts or

16 transactions at or with a financial institution, the

17 consumer reporting agency shall, in addition to any

18 other action the agency may take, provide the con19 sumer with a summary of rights, or other disclosure,

20 that is the same as or substantially similar to the

21 model summary of rights prepared by the Commis22 sion under paragraph (1) and information on how to

23 contact the Commission to obtain more detailed in24 formation.’’.
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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

2 Section 624(b)(3) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

3 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘section

4 609(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (c) or (d) of section

5 609’’.

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (2) of section

7 609(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (as added by sub8 section (a) of this section) shall apply after the end of the

9 60-day period beginning on the date the model summary

10 of rights is prescribed in final form by the Federal Trade

11 Commission pursuant to paragraph (1) of such section

12 and in accordance with section 3(a) of this Act.

13 SEC. 205. BLOCKING OF INFORMATION RESULTING FROM

14 IDENTITY THEFT.

15 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

16 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by inserting after subsection

17 (i) (as added by section 202 of this title) the following

18 new subsection:

19 ‘‘(j) BLOCK OF INFORMATION RESULTING FROM

20 IDENTITY THEFT.—

21 ‘‘(1) BLOCK.—Except as provided in paragraph

22 (3), a consumer reporting agency shall block the re23 porting of any information in the file of a consumer

24 that the consumer identifies as information that re25 sulted from an alleged identity theft and confirms is
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1 not information relating to any transaction by the

2 consumer not later than 5 business days after the

3 date of receipt by such agency of—

4 ‘‘(A) appropriate proof of the identity of a

5 consumer;

6 ‘‘(B) a police report evidencing the claim

7 of the consumer of identity theft;

8 ‘‘(C) the identification of the information

9 by the consumer; and

10 ‘‘(D) confirmation by the consumer that

11 the information is not information relating to

12 any transaction by the consumer.

13 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—A consumer reporting

14 agency shall promptly notify the furnisher of infor15 mation identified by the consumer under paragraph

16 (1)—

17 ‘‘(A) that the information may be a result

18 of identity theft;

19 ‘‘(B) that a police report has been filed;

20 ‘‘(C) that a block has been requested under

21 this subsection; and

22 ‘‘(D) of the effective date of the block.

23 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY TO DECLINE OR RESCIND.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting

25 agency may decline to block, or may rescind
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1 any block, of consumer information under this

2 subsection if the consumer reporting agency

3 reasonably determines that—

4 ‘‘(i) the information was blocked in

5 error or a block was requested by the con6 sumer in error;

7 ‘‘(ii) the information was blocked, or a

8 block was requested by the consumer, on

9 the basis of a misrepresentation of fact by

10 the consumer relevant to the request to

11 block; or

12 ‘‘(iii) the consumer knowingly ob13 tained possession of goods, services, or

14 moneys as a result of the blocked trans15 action or transactions, or the consumer

16 should have known that the consumer ob17 tained possession of goods, services, or

18 moneys as a result of the blocked trans19 action or transactions.

20 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION TO CONSUMER.—If

21 the block of information is declined or rescinded

22 under this paragraph, the affected consumer

23 shall be notified promptly, in the same manner

24 as consumers are notified of the reinsertion of

25 information under section 611(a)(5)(B).
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1 ‘‘(C) SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOCK.—For pur2 poses of this paragraph, if a consumer report3 ing agency rescinds a block, the presence of in4 formation in the file of a consumer prior to the

5 blocking of such information is not evidence of

6 whether the consumer knew or should have

7 known that the consumer obtained possession of

8 any goods, services, or monies as a result of the

9 block.

10 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTIONS.—

11 ‘‘(A) VERIFICATION COMPANIES.—This

12 subsection shall not apply to—

13 ‘‘(i) a check services company, which

14 issues authorizations for the purpose of ap15 proving or processing negotiable instru16 ments, electronic funds transfers, or simi17 lar methods of payments; or

18 ‘‘(ii) a deposit account information

19 service company, which issues reports re20 garding account closures due to fraud, sub21 stantial overdrafts, automated teller ma22 chine abuse, or similar negative informa23 tion regarding a consumer, to inquiring

24 banks or other financial institutions for

25 use only in reviewing a consumer request
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1 for a deposit account at the inquiring bank

2 or financial institution.

3 ‘‘(B) RESELLERS.—

4 ‘‘(i) NO RESELLER FILE.—This sub5 section shall not apply to a consumer re6 porting agency if the consumer reporting

7 agency—

8 ‘‘(I) is a reseller;

9 ‘‘(II) is not, at the time of the re10 quest of the consumer under para11 graph (1), otherwise furnishing or re12 selling a consumer report concerning

13 the information identified by the con14 sumer; and

15 ‘‘(III) informs the consumer, by

16 any means, that the consumer may re17 port the identity theft to the Commis18 sion to obtain consumer information

19 regarding identity theft.

20 ‘‘(ii) RESELLER WITH FILE.—The

21 sole obligation of the consumer reporting

22 agency under this subsection, with regard

23 to any request of a consumer under this

24 subsection, shall be to block the consumer
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•HR 2622 EH

1 report maintained by the consumer report2 ing agency from any subsequent use if—

3 ‘‘(I) the consumer, in accordance

4 with the provisions of paragraph (1),

5 identifies, to a consumer reporting

6 agency, information in the file of the

7 consumer that resulted from identity

8 theft; and

9 ‘‘(II) the consumer reporting

10 agency is a reseller of the identified

11 information.

12 ‘‘(iii) NOTICE.—In carrying out its

13 obligation under clause (ii), the reseller

14 shall promptly provide a notice to the con15 sumer of the decision to block the file.

16 Such notice shall contain the name, ad17 dress, and telephone number of each con18 sumer reporting agency from which the

19 consumer information was obtained for re20 sale.

21 ‘‘(5) ACCESS TO BLOCKED INFORMATION BY

22 LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.—No provision of

23 this subsection shall be construed as requiring a con24 sumer reporting agency to prevent a Federal, State,

25 or local law enforcement agency from accessing
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1 blocked information in a consumer file to which the

2 agency could otherwise obtain access under this

3 title.’’.

4 SEC. 206. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCEDURES FOR DEPOSI5 TORY INSTITUTIONS TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE

6 INSTANCES OF IDENTITY THEFT.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 605 of the Fair Credit

8 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by inserting

9 after subsection (j) (as added by section 205 of this title)

10 the following new subsection:

11 ‘‘(k) ‘RED FLAG’ GUIDELINES REQUIRED.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal banking agen13 cies and the National Credit Union Administration,

14 in consultation with the Commission, shall jointly es15 tablish and maintain guidelines for use by insured

16 depository institutions in identifying patterns, prac17 tices, and specific forms of activity that indicate the

18 possible existence of identity theft with respect to ac19 counts, and update such guidelines as often as nec20 essary.

21 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Federal banking

22 agencies and the National Credit Union Administra23 tion, in consultation with the Commission, shall

24 jointly prescribe regulations requiring insured depos25 itory institutions to establish and adhere to reason-
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•HR 2622 EH

1 able policies and procedures for implementing the

2 guidelines established pursuant to paragraph (1) to

3 identify possible risks to customer accounts or to the

4 safety and soundness of the institutions.

5 ‘‘(3) CONSISTENCY WITH VERIFICATION RE6 QUIREMENTS.—Policies and procedures established

7 pursuant to paragraph (2) shall not be inconsistent

8 with the policies and procedures required under sec9 tion 5318(l) of title 31, United States Code.

10 ‘‘(4) INSURED DEPOSITORY INSTITUTION DE11 FINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the term

12 ‘insured depository institution’—

13 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given to such term

14 in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance

15 Act; and

16 ‘‘(B) includes an insured credit union (as

17 defined in section 101 of the Federal Credit

18 Union Act).’’.

19 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

20 subsection (a) shall take effect at the end of the 1-year

21 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

22 SEC. 207. STUDY ON THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO COMBAT

23 IDENTITY THEFT.

24 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the Treas25 ury shall conduct a study of the use of biometrics and
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1 other similar technologies to reduce the incidence and

2 costs of identity theft by providing convincing evidence of

3 who actually performed a given financial transaction.

4 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of the Treasury

5 shall consult with Federal banking agencies, the Federal

6 Trade Commission, and representatives of financial insti7 tutions, consumer reporting agencies, Federal, State, and

8 local government agencies that issue official forms or

9 means of identification, State prosecutors, law enforce10 ment agencies, the biometric industry, and the general

11 public in formulating and conducting the study required

12 by subsection (a).

13 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

14 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the

15 Treasury for fiscal year 2004 such sums as may be nec16 essary to carry out the provisions of this section.

17 (d) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 180-

18 day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this

19 Act, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress con20 taining the findings and conclusions of the study required

21 under subsection (a), together with such recommendations

22 for legislative or administrative actions as may be appro23 priate.
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1 TITLE III—IMPROVING RESOLU2 TION OF CONSUMER DIS3 PUTES

4 SEC. 301. COORDINATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT IN5 VESTIGATIONS.

6 Section 621 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

7 U.S.C. 1681s) is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing new subsection:

9 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT IN10 VESTIGATIONS.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The consumer reporting

12 agencies described in section 603(p) shall develop

13 and maintain procedures for the referral, to each

14 such agency, of any consumer complaint received by

15 any such agency alleging any identity theft or re16 questing a block or a fraud alert.

17 ‘‘(2) MODEL FORM AND PROCEDURE FOR RE18 PORTING IDENTITY THEFT.—The Commission, in

19 consultation with the Federal banking agencies and

20 the National Credit Union Administration, shall de21 velop a model form and model procedures to be used

22 by consumers who are victims of identity theft for

23 contacting and informing creditors and consumer re24 porting agencies of the fraud.
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1 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORTS.—Each con2 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p)

3 shall submit an annual summary report to the Com4 mission on consumer complaints received by the

5 agency on identity theft or fraud alerts.’’.

6 SEC. 302. NOTICE OF DISPUTE THROUGH RESELLER.

7 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR REINVESTIGATION OF DIS8 PUTED INFORMATION UPON NOTICE FROM A RE9 SELLER.—Section 611(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting

10 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)(A)) is amended—

11 (1) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1)—

12 (A) by striking ‘‘If the completeness’’ and

13 inserting ‘‘Subject to subsection (e), if the com14 pleteness’’;

15 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or indirectly through a

16 reseller,’’ after ‘‘notifies the agency directly’’;

17 and

18 (C) by inserting ‘‘or reseller’’ before the

19 period at the end of such subparagraph;

20 (2) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2)—

21 (A) by inserting ‘‘or a reseller’’ after ‘‘dis22 pute from any consumer’’; and

23 (B) by inserting ‘‘or reseller’’ before the

24 period at the end of such subparagraph; and
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1 (3) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2), by

2 inserting ‘‘or the reseller’’ after ‘‘from the con3 sumer’’.

4 (b) REINVESTIGATION REQUIREMENT APPLICABLE

5 TO RESELLERS.—Section 611 of the Fair Credit Report6 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by adding at the

7 end the following new subsection:

8 ‘‘(e) REINVESTIGATION REQUIREMENT APPLICABLE

9 TO RESELLERS.—

10 ‘‘(1) EXEMPTION FROM GENERAL REINVES11 TIGATION REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in

12 paragraph (2), a reseller shall be exempt from the

13 requirements of this section.

14 ‘‘(2) ACTION REQUIRED UPON RECEIVING NO15 TICE OF A DISPUTE.—If a reseller receives a notice

16 from a consumer of a dispute concerning the com17 pleteness or accuracy of any item of information

18 contained in a consumer report on such consumer

19 produced by the reseller, the reseller shall, within 5

20 business days of receiving the notice and free of

21 charge—

22 ‘‘(A) determine whether the item of infor23 mation is incomplete or inaccurate as a result

24 of an act or omission of the reseller; and

25 ‘‘(B) if—
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(i) the reseller determines that the

2 item of information is incomplete or inac3 curate as a result of an act or omission of

4 the reseller, correct the information in the

5 consumer report or delete it; or

6 ‘‘(ii) if the reseller determines that the

7 item of information is not incomplete or in8 accurate as a result of an act or omission

9 of the reseller, convey the notice of the dis10 pute, together with all relevant information

11 provided by the consumer, to each con12 sumer reporting agency that provided the

13 reseller with the information that is the

14 subject of the dispute, using an address or

15 a notification mechanism specified by the

16 consumer reporting agency for such no17 tices.

18 ‘‘(3) RESELLER REINVESTIGATIONS.—No provi19 sion of this subsection shall be construed as prohib20 iting a reseller from conducting a reinvestigation of

21 a consumer dispute directly.’’.

22 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

23 The heading for paragraph (2)(B) of section 611(a) of the

24 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(2)(B)) is

25 amended by striking ‘‘FROM CONSUMER’’.
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1 SEC. 303. REASONABLE REINVESTIGATION REQUIRED.

2 Section 611(a)(1)(A) of the Fair Credit Reporting

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking

4 ‘‘shall reinvestigate free of charge’’ and inserting ‘‘shall,

5 free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation to de6 termine whether the disputed information is inaccurate’’.

7 SEC. 304. DUTIES OF FURNISHERS OF INFORMATION.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 623(a) of the Fair Credit

9 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(a)) is amended—

10 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘knows or

11 consciously avoids knowing that the information is

12 inaccurate’’ and inserting ‘‘knows or has reasonable

13 cause to believe that the information is inaccurate’’;

14 (2) in paragraph (1)—

15 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B)

16 and (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec17 tively;

18 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A),

19 the following new subparagraph:

20 ‘‘(B) REASONABLE PROCEDURES TO EN21 SURE ACCURACY.—A person that regularly fur22 nishes information relating to consumers to a

23 consumer reporting agency described in section

24 603(p) shall maintain reasonable procedures de25 signed to ensure that the information furnished

26 is accurate.’’; and
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•HR 2622 EH

1 (C) by adding at the end the following new

2 subparagraph:

3 ‘‘(F) DEFINITION.—For purposes of sub4 paragraph (A), the term ‘reasonable cause to

5 believe that the information is inaccurate’

6 means, based on the procedures described in

7 subparagraph (B), has knowledge, other than

8 solely allegations by the consumer, that would

9 cause a reasonable person to have substantial

10 doubts about the accuracy of the information.’’;

11 and

12 (3) by adding at the end the following new

13 paragraph:

14 ‘‘(6) ABILITY OF CONSUMER TO DISPUTE IN15 FORMATION DIRECTLY WITH FURNISHER.—

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer may dis17 pute directly with a person the accuracy of in18 formation that—

19 ‘‘(i) is contained in a consumer report

20 on the consumer prepared by a consumer

21 reporting agency described in section

22 603(p); and

23 ‘‘(ii) was provided by the person to

24 that consumer reporting agency in accord25 ance with paragraph (1)(B).
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(B) SUBMITTING A NOTICE OF DIS2 PUTE.—A consumer who seeks to dispute the

3 accuracy of information with a person under

4 subparagraph (A) shall provide a dispute notice

5 directly to such person at the address specified

6 by the person for such notices that—

7 ‘‘(i) identifies the specific information

8 that is being disputed; and

9 ‘‘(ii) explains the basis for the dis10 pute.

11 ‘‘(C) DUTY OF PERSON AFTER RECEIVING

12 NOTICE OF DISPUTE.—After receiving a notice

13 of dispute from a consumer pursuant to sub14 paragraph (B), the person that provided the in15 formation in dispute to a consumer reporting

16 agency referred to in subparagraph (A) shall—

17 ‘‘(i) conduct an investigation with re18 spect to the disputed information;

19 ‘‘(ii) review all relevant information

20 provided by the consumer with the notice;

21 ‘‘(iii) complete such person’s inves22 tigation of the dispute and report the re23 sults of the investigation to the consumer

24 before the expiration of the period under

25 section 611(a)(1) within which a consumer
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•HR 2622 EH

1 reporting agency would be required to com2 plete its action if the consumer had elected

3 to dispute the information under that sec4 tion; and

5 ‘‘(iv) if the investigation finds that the

6 information reported was inaccurate,

7 promptly notify each consumer reporting

8 agency described in section 603(p) to

9 which the person furnished the inaccurate

10 information of that determination and pro11 vide to the agency any correction to that

12 information that is necessary to make the

13 information provided by the person accu14 rate.

15 ‘‘(D) FRIVOLOUS OR IRRELEVANT DIS16 PUTE.—

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The requirements

18 of this paragraph shall not apply if the

19 person receiving a notice of a dispute from

20 a consumer reasonably determines that the

21 dispute is frivolous or irrelevant,

22 including—

23 ‘‘(I) by reason of the failure of a

24 consumer to provide sufficient infor-
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•HR 2622 EH

1 mation to investigate the disputed in2 formation; or

3 ‘‘(II) the submission by a con4 sumer of a dispute that is substan5 tially the same as a dispute previously

6 submitted by or for the consumer, ei7 ther directly to the person under this

8 paragraph or through a consumer re9 porting agency under subsection (b),

10 with respect to which the person has

11 already performed the person’s duties

12 under this paragraph or subsection

13 (b), as applicable.

14 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION.—

15 Upon making any determination under

16 clause (i) that a dispute is frivolous or ir17 relevant, the person shall notify the con18 sumer of such determination not later than

19 5 business days after making such deter20 mination, by mail or, if authorized by the

21 consumer for that purpose, by any other

22 means available to the person.

23 ‘‘(iii) CONTENTS OF NOTICE.—A no24 tice under clause (ii) shall include—
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(I) the reasons for the deter2 mination under clause (i); and

3 ‘‘(II) identification of any infor4 mation required to investigate the dis5 puted information, which may consist

6 of a standardized form describing the

7 general nature of such information.’’.

8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

9 (1) Section 621(c)(5)(A) of the Fair Credit Re10 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s(c)(5)(A)) is amended

11 by striking ‘‘section 623(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘para12 graph (1) or (6) of section 623(a)’’.

13 (2) The heading for section 621(c)(5) of the

14 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s(c)(5))

15 is amended by striking ‘‘VIOLATION OF SECTION

16 623(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘CERTAIN VIOLATIONS OF

17 SECTION 623(a)’’.

18 SEC. 305. PROMPT INVESTIGATION OF DISPUTED CON19 SUMER INFORMATION.

20 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Board of Governors of

21 the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Com22 mission shall jointly study the extent to which, and the

23 manner in which, consumer reporting agencies and fur24 nishers of consumer information to consumer reporting

25 agencies are complying with the procedures, time lines,
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1 and requirements under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for

2 the prompt investigation of the disputed accuracy of any

3 consumer information, the completeness of the informa4 tion provided to consumer reporting agencies, and the

5 prompt correction or deletion, in accordance with such

6 Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete information or infor7 mation that cannot be verified.

8 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 6-

9 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of

10 this Act, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

11 System and the Federal Trade Commission shall jointly

12 submit a progress report to the Congress on the results

13 of the study required under subsection (a).

14 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The report under sub15 section (b) shall include such recommendations as the

16 Board and the Commission jointly determine to be appro17 priate for legislative or administrative action to ensure

18 that—

19 (1) consumer disputes with consumer reporting

20 agencies over the accuracy or completeness of infor21 mation in a consumer’s file are promptly and fully

22 investigated and any incorrect, incomplete, or un23 verifiable information is corrected or deleted imme24 diately thereafter;
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1 (2) furnishers of information to consumer re2 porting agencies maintain full and prompt compli3 ance with the duties and responsibilities established

4 under section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act;

5 and

6 (3) consumer reporting agencies establish and

7 maintain appropriate internal controls and manage8 ment review procedures for maintaining full and

9 continuous compliance with the procedures, time

10 lines, and requirements under the Fair Credit Re11 porting Act for the prompt investigation of the dis12 puted accuracy of any consumer information and the

13 prompt correction or deletion, in accordance with

14 such Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete informa15 tion or information that cannot be verified.

16 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

17 terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer report’’, and ‘‘consumer re18 porting agency’’ have the same meaning as in the Fair

19 Credit Reporting Act.

20 TITLE IV—IMPROVING ACCU21 RACY OF CONSUMER

22 RECORDS

23 SEC. 401. RECONCILING ADDRESSES.

24 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

25 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by inserting after subsection
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1 (g) (as added by section 201 of this Act) the following

2 new subsection.

3 ‘‘(h) NOTICE OF DISCREPANCY.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a person has requested

5 a consumer report relating to a consumer from a

6 consumer reporting agency described in section

7 603(p), the request includes an address for the con8 sumer that substantially differs from the addresses

9 in the file of the consumer, and the agency provides

10 a consumer report in response to the request, the

11 consumer reporting agency shall notify the requester

12 of the existence of the discrepancy.

13 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—

14 ‘‘(A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Fed15 eral banking agencies and the National Credit

16 Union Administration shall jointly prescribe

17 regulations providing guidance regarding rea18 sonable policies and procedures a user of a con19 sumer report should employ when such user has

20 received a notice of discrepancy under para21 graph (1).

22 ‘‘(B) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO BE

23 INCLUDED.—The regulations prescribed under

24 subparagraph (A) shall describe reasonable poli-
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1 cies and procedures for use by a user of a con2 sumer report—

3 ‘‘(i) to form a reasonable belief that

4 the user knows the identity of the person

5 to whom the consumer report pertains; and

6 ‘‘(ii) if the user establishes a con7 tinuing relationship with the consumer,

8 and the user regularly and in the ordinary

9 course of business furnishes information to

10 the consumer reporting agency from which

11 the notice of discrepancy pertaining to the

12 consumer was obtained, to reconcile the

13 consumer’s address with the consumer re14 porting agency by furnishing such address

15 to such consumer reporting agency as part

16 of information regularly furnished by the

17 user for the period in which the relation18 ship is established.’’.

19 SEC. 402. PREVENTION OF REPOLLUTION OF CONSUMER

20 REPORTS.

21 Section 623(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

22 (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(a)(1)) is amended by inserting after

23 subparagraph (D) (as so redesignated by section

24 304(2)(A)) the following new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(E) INFORMATION ALLEGED TO RESULT

2 FROM IDENTITY THEFT.—If a consumer sub3 mits a police report to a person who furnishes

4 information to a consumer reporting agency

5 that states that information maintained by such

6 person that purports to relate to the consumer

7 resulted from identity theft, the person may not

8 furnish such information that purports to relate

9 to the consumer to any consumer reporting

10 agency, unless the person subsequently knows

11 or is informed by the consumer that the infor12 mation is correct.’’.

13 SEC. 403. NOTICE BY USERS WITH RESPECT TO FRAUDU14 LENT INFORMATION.

15 Section 615 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

16 U.S.C. 1681m) is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new subsection:

18 ‘‘(e) NOTICE OF FRAUDULENT INFORMATION RE19 LATING TO IDENTITY THEFT.—If an agent acting as a

20 debt collector (as defined in title VIII) of a person who

21 furnishes information to any consumer reporting agency

22 uses information contained in a consumer report on any

23 consumer and learns that any such information so used

24 is the result of identity theft or otherwise is fraudulent,

25 the agent shall—
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(1) if such information—

2 ‘‘(A) originated from the person for whom

3 the debt collector is acting as agent, notify the

4 person of the fraudulent information; or

5 ‘‘(B) originated from a person other than

6 the person for whom the debt collector is acting

7 as agent, notify the consumer reporting agency

8 (that provided the consumer report) of the

9 fraudulent information, either directly or

10 through the person for whom the debt collector

11 is acting as agent; and

12 ‘‘(2) upon the request of the consumer, provide

13 the consumer with all information which the con14 sumer would be entitled to receive if the information

15 related to the consumer other than by reason of

16 identity theft.’’.

17 SEC. 404. DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMERS OF CONTACT IN18 FORMATION FOR USERS AND FURNISHERS

19 OF INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS.

20 Section 609(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

21 U.S.C. 1681g(a)) is amended—

22 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, including

23 addresses of the sources, and (if provided by the

24 sources of information) the telephone numbers iden25 tified for customer service for the sources of infor-
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1 mation’’ after ‘‘sources of information’’ the 1st place

2 such term appears in such paragraph; and

3 (2) in paragraph (3)(B) by striking clause (ii)

4 and inserting the following new clause:

5 ‘‘(ii) the address and (if provided) the

6 telephone numbers identified for customer

7 service of the person.’’.

8 SEC. 405. FTC STUDY OF THE ACCURACY OF CONSUMER RE9 PORTS.

10 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—Until the final report is sub11 mitted under subsection (b)(2), the Federal Trade Com12 mission shall conduct an ongoing study of the accuracy

13 and completeness of information contained in consumer

14 reports prepared or maintained by consumer reporting

15 agencies and methods for improving the accuracy and

16 completeness of such information.

17 (b) BIENNIAL REPORTS REQUIRED.—

18 (1) INTERIM REPORTS.—The Federal Trade

19 Commission shall submit an interim report to the

20 Congress on the study conducted under subsection

21 (a) at the end of the 6-month period beginning on

22 the date of the enactment of this Act and biennially

23 thereafter for 8 years.

24 (2) FINAL REPORT.—The Federal Trade Com25 mission shall submit a final report to the Congress
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1 on the study conducted under subsection (a) at the

2 end of the 2-year period beginning on the date the

3 final interim report is submitted to the Congress

4 under paragraph (1).

5 (3) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under

6 this subsection shall contain a detailed summary of

7 the findings and conclusions of the Commission with

8 respect to the study required under subsection (a)

9 and such recommendations for legislative and ad10 ministrative action as the Commission may deter11 mine to be appropriate.

12 TITLE V—IMPROVEMENTS IN

13 USE OF AND CONSUMER AC14 CESS TO CREDIT INFORMA15 TION

16 SEC. 501. FREE REPORTS ANNUALLY.

17 Section 612 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

18 U.S.C. 1681j) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing new subsection:

20 ‘‘(e) FREE ANNUAL DISCLOSURE.—Upon the direct

21 request of the consumer, a consumer reporting agency

22 that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a na23 tionwide or regional basis shall make all disclosures pursu24 ant to section 609 once during any 12-month period with25 out charge to the consumer.’’.
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1 SEC. 502. DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES.

2 (a) STATEMENT ON AVAILABILITY OF CREDIT

3 SCORES.—Section 609(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting

4 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)) is amended by adding at the

5 end the following new paragraph:

6 ‘‘(6) If the consumer requests the credit file

7 and not the credit score, a statement that the con8 sumer may request and obtain a credit score.’’.

9 (b) DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES.—Section 609

10 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is

11 amended by inserting after subsection (d) (as added by

12 section 204 of this Act) the following new subsection:

13 ‘‘(e) DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the consumer’s re15 quest for a credit score, a consumer reporting agen16 cy shall supply to a consumer a statement indicating

17 that the information and credit scoring model may

18 be different than the credit score that may be used

19 by the lender, and a notice which shall include the

20 following information:

21 ‘‘(A) The consumer’s current credit score

22 or the consumer’s most recent credit score that

23 was previously calculated by the credit report24 ing agency for a purpose related to the exten25 sion of credit.
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(B) The range of possible credit scores

2 under the model used.

3 ‘‘(C) All the key factors that adversely af4 fected the consumer’s credit score in the model

5 used, the total number of which shall not ex6 ceed four, subject to paragraph (9).

7 ‘‘(D) The date the credit score was cre8 ated.

9 ‘‘(E) The name of the person or entity

10 that provided the credit score or credit file upon

11 which the credit score was created.

12 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec13 tion, the following definitions shall apply:

14 ‘‘(A) CREDIT SCORE.—The term ‘credit

15 score’—

16 ‘‘(i) means a numerical value or a cat17 egorization derived from a statistical tool

18 or modeling system used by a person who

19 makes or arranges a loan to predict the

20 likelihood of certain credit behaviors, in21 cluding default (and the numerical value or

22 the categorization derived from this anal23 ysis may also be referred to as a ‘risk pre24 dictor’ or ‘risk score’); and

25 ‘‘(ii) does not include—
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(I) any mortgage score or rating

2 of an automated underwriting system

3 that considers one or more factors in

4 addition to credit information, includ5 ing the loan to value ratio, the

6 amount of down payment, or a con7 sumer’s financial assets; or

8 ‘‘(II) any other elements of the

9 underwriting process or underwriting

10 decision.

11 ‘‘(B) KEY FACTORS.—The term ‘key fac12 tors’ means all relevant elements or reasons ad13 versely affecting the credit score for the par14 ticular individual listed in the order of their im15 portance based on their effect on the credit

16 score.

17 ‘‘(3) TIMEFRAME AND MANNER OF DISCLO18 SURE.—The information required by this subsection

19 shall be provided in the same timeframe and manner

20 as the information described in subsection (a).

21 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN USES.—This

22 subsection shall not be construed so as to compel a

23 consumer reporting agency to develop or disclose a

24 score if the agency does not—
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•HR 2622 EH

1 ‘‘(A) distribute scores that are used in con2 nection with residential real property loans; or

3 ‘‘(B) develop scores that assist credit pro4 viders in understanding a consumer’s general

5 credit behavior and predicting the future credit

6 behavior of the consumer.

7 ‘‘(5) APPLICABILITY TO CREDIT SCORES DE8 VELOPED BY ANOTHER PERSON.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—This subsection shall

10 not be construed to require a consumer report11 ing agency that distributes credit scores devel12 oped by another person or entity to provide a

13 further explanation of them, or to process a dis14 pute arising pursuant to section 611, except

15 that the consumer reporting agency shall pro16 vide the consumer with the name and address

17 and website for contacting the person or entity

18 who developed the score or developed the meth19 odology of the score.

20 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—This paragraph shall

21 not apply to a consumer reporting agency that

22 develops or modifies scores that are developed

23 by another person or entity.

24 ‘‘(6) MAINTENANCE OF CREDIT SCORES NOT

25 REQUIRED.—This subsection shall not be construed
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1 to require a consumer reporting agency to maintain

2 credit scores in its files.

3 ‘‘(7) COMPLIANCE IN CERTAIN CASES.—In com4 plying with this subsection, a consumer reporting

5 agency shall—

6 ‘‘(A) supply the consumer with a credit

7 score that is derived from a credit scoring

8 model that is widely distributed to users by that

9 consumer reporting agency in connection with

10 residential real property loans or with a credit

11 score that assists the consumer in under12 standing the credit scoring assessment of the

13 credit behavior of the consumer and predictions

14 about the future credit behavior of the con15 sumer; and

16 ‘‘(B) a statement indicating that the infor17 mation and credit scoring model may be dif18 ferent than that used by the lender.

19 ‘‘(8) REASONABLE FEE.—A consumer reporting

20 agency may charge a reasonable fee for providing

21 the information required under this subsection.

22 ‘‘(9) USE OF ENQUIRIES AS A KEY FACTOR.—

23 If a key factor that adversely affects a consumer’s

24 credit score consists of the number of enquiries

25 made with respect to a consumer report, that factor
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1 shall be included in the disclosure pursuant to para2 graph (1)(C) without regard to the numerical limita3 tion in such paragraph.’’.

4 (c) DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES BY CERTAIN

5 MORTGAGE LENDERS.—Section 609 of the Fair Credit

6 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is amended by inserting

7 after subsection (e) (as added by subsection (b) of this

8 section) the following new subsection:

9 ‘‘(f) DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES BY CERTAIN

10 MORTGAGE LENDERS.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who makes or

12 arranges loans and who uses a consumer credit score

13 as defined in subsection (e) in connection with an

14 application initiated or sought by a consumer for a

15 closed end loan or establishment of an open end loan

16 for a consumer purpose that is secured by 1 to 4

17 units of residential real property (hereafter in this

18 subsection referred to as the ‘lender’) shall provide

19 the following to the consumer as soon as reasonably

20 practicable:

21 ‘‘(A) INFORMATION REQUIRED UNDER

22 SUBSECTION (e).—

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A copy of the in24 formation identified in subsection (e) that

25 was obtained from a consumer reporting
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1 agency or was developed and used by the

2 user of the information.

3 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE UNDER SUBPARAGRAPH

4 (D).—In addition to the information pro5 vided to it by a third party that provided

6 the credit score or scores, a lender is only

7 required to provide the notice contained in

8 subparagraph (D).

9 ‘‘(B) DISCLOSURES IN CASE OF AUTO10 MATED UNDERWRITING SYSTEM.—

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a person who is

12 subject to this section uses an automated

13 underwriting system to underwrite a loan,

14 that person may satisfy the obligation to

15 provide a credit score by disclosing a credit

16 score and associated key factors supplied

17 by a consumer reporting agency.

18 ‘‘(ii) NUMERICAL CREDIT SCORE.—

19 However, if a numerical credit score is

20 generated by an automated underwriting

21 system used by an enterprise, and that

22 score is disclosed to the person, the score

23 shall be disclosed to the consumer con24 sistent with subparagraph (C).
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1 ‘‘(iii) ENTERPRISE DEFINED.—For

2 purposes of this subparagraph, the term

3 ‘enterprise’ shall have the same meaning

4 as in paragraph (6) of section 1303 of the

5 Federal Housing Enterprises Financial

6 Safety and Soundness Act of 1992.

7 ‘‘(C) DISCLOSURES OF CREDIT SCORES

8 NOT OBTAINED FROM A CONSUMER REPORTING

9 AGENCY.—A person subject to the provisions of

10 this subsection who uses a credit score other

11 than a credit score provided by a consumer re12 porting agency may satisfy the obligation to

13 provide a credit score by disclosing a credit

14 score and associated key factors supplied by a

15 consumer reporting agency.

16 ‘‘(D) NOTICE TO HOME LOAN APPLI17 CANTS.—A copy of the following notice, which

18 shall include the name, address, and telephone

19 number of each consumer reporting agency pro20 viding a credit score that was used:

21 ‘‘ ‘NOTICE TO THE HOME LOAN APPLICANT

22 ‘‘ ‘In connection with your application for a home

23 loan, the lender must disclose to you the score that a con24 sumer reporting agency distributed to users and the lender
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•HR 2622 EH

1 used in connection with your home loan, and the key fac2 tors affecting your credit scores.

3 ‘‘ ‘The credit score is a computer generated summary

4 calculated at the time of the request and based on infor5 mation a consumer reporting agency or lender has on file.

6 The scores are based on data about your credit history

7 and payment patterns. Credit scores are important be8 cause they are used to assist the lender in determining

9 whether you will obtain a loan. They may also be used

10 to determine what interest rate you may be offered on the

11 mortgage. Credit scores can change over time, depending

12 on your conduct, how your credit history and payment pat13 terns change, and how credit scoring technologies change.

14 ‘‘ ‘Because the score is based on information in your

15 credit history, it is very important that you review the

16 credit-related information that is being furnished to make

17 sure it is accurate. Credit records may vary from one com18 pany to another.

19 ‘‘ ‘If you have questions about your credit score or

20 the credit information that is furnished to you, contact

21 the consumer reporting agency at the address and tele22 phone number provided with this notice, or contact the

23 lender, if the lender developed or generated the credit

24 score. The consumer reporting agency plays no part in the

25 decision to take any action on the loan application and
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1 is unable to provide you with specific reasons for the deci2 sion on a loan application.

3 ‘‘ ‘If you have questions concerning the terms of

4 the loan, contact the lender.’.

5 ‘‘(E) ACTIONS NOT REQUIRED UNDER THIS

6 SUBSECTION.—This subsection shall not require

7 any person to do any of the following:

8 ‘‘(i) Explain the information provided

9 pursuant to subsection (e).

10 ‘‘(ii) Disclose any information other

11 than a credit score or key factor, as de12 fined in subsection (e).

13 ‘‘(iii) Disclose any credit score or re14 lated information obtained by the user

15 after a loan has closed.

16 ‘‘(iv) Provide more than 1 disclosure

17 per loan transaction.

18 ‘‘(v) Provide the disclosure required

19 by this subsection when another person has

20 made the disclosure to the consumer for

21 that loan transaction.

22 ‘‘(F) NO OBLIGATION FOR CONTENT.—

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any person’s obli24 gation pursuant to this subsection shall be

25 limited solely to providing a copy of the in-
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1 formation that was received from the con2 sumer reporting agency.

3 ‘‘(ii) LIMIT ON LIABILITY.—No person

4 has liability under this subsection for the

5 content of that information or for the

6 omission of any information within the re7 port provided by the consumer reporting

8 agency.

9 ‘‘(G) PERSON DEFINED AS EXCLUDING EN10 TERPRISE.—As used in this subsection, the

11 term ‘person’ does not include an enterprise (as

12 defined in paragraph (6) of section 1303 of the

13 Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety

14 and Soundness Act of 1992).

15 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE CLAUSES

16 NULL AND VOID.—

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any provision in a

18 contract that prohibits the disclosure of a credit

19 score by a person who makes or arranges loans

20 or a consumer reporting agency is void.

21 ‘‘(B) NO LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE

22 UNDER THIS SUBSECTION.—A lender shall not

23 have liability under any contractual provision

24 for disclosure of a credit score pursuant to this

25 subsection.’’.
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1 (d) INCLUSION OF KEY FACTOR IN CREDIT SCORE

2 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORT.—Section 605(d) of

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

4 amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘DISCLOSED.—Any consumer

6 reporting agency’’ and inserting ‘‘DISCLOSED.—

7 ‘‘(1) TITLE 11 INFORMATION.—Any consumer

8 reporting agency’’; and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new

10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(2) KEY FACTOR IN CREDIT SCORE INFORMA12 TION.—Any consumer reporting agency that fur13 nishes a consumer report that contains any credit

14 score or any other risk score or predictor on any

15 consumer shall include in the report a clear and con16 spicuous statement that a key factor (as defined in

17 section 609(e)(2)(B)) that adversely affected such

18 score or predictor was the number of enquiries, if

19 such a predictor was in fact a key factor that ad20 versely affected such score. This paragraph shall not

21 apply to a person described in subsection

22 (j)(4)(A)(i), but only to the extent that such person

23 is engaged in activities described in such sub24 section.’’.
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1 (e) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

2 Section 624(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

3 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(3)) (as amended by section 204(b) of this

4 Act) is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph

6 (2); and

7 (2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the

8 following new paragraphs:

9 ‘‘(3) with respect to the form and content of

10 any disclosure required to be made under subsection

11 (c), (d), (e), or (f) of section 609, except that this

12 paragraph shall not apply—

13 ‘‘(A) with respect to sections 1785.10,

14 1785.16 and 1785.20.2 of the California Civil

15 Code (as in effect on the date of enactment of

16 the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act

17 of 2003) and section 1785.15 through section

18 1785.15.2 of such Code (as in effect on such

19 date) and

20 ‘‘(B) with respect to section 12–14.3–

21 104.3 of the Colorado Revised Statutes (as in

22 effect on the date of enactment of the Fair and

23 Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003); and
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1 ‘‘(4) with respect to the frequency of any disclo2 sure under section 612(e), except that this para3 graph shall not apply—

4 ‘‘(A) with respect to section 12–14.3–

5 105(1)(d) of the Colorado Revised Statutes (as

6 in effect on the date of enactment of the Fair

7 and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003);

8 ‘‘(B) with respect to section 10–1–

9 393(29)(C) of the Georgia Code (as in effect on

10 the date of enactment of the Fair and Accurate

11 Credit Transactions Act of 2003);

12 ‘‘(C) with respect to section 1316.2–B of

13 title 10 of the Maine Revised Statutes (as in ef14 fect on the date of enactment of the Fair and

15 Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003);

16 ‘‘(D) with respect to sections 14–

17 1209(a)(1) and 14–1209(b)(1)(i) of the Com18 mercial Law Article of the Code of Maryland

19 (as in effect on the date of enactment of the

20 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of

21 2003);

22 ‘‘(E) with respect to section 59(d) and sec23 tion 59(e) of chapter 93 of the General Laws

24 of Massachusetts (as in effect on the date of
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1 enactment of the Fair and Accurate Credit

2 Transactions Act of 2003);

3 ‘‘(F) with respect to section 56:11–

4 37.10(a)(1) of the New Jersey Revised Statutes

5 (as in effect on the date of enactment of the

6 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of

7 2003); and

8 ‘‘(G) with respect to section 2480c(a)(1) of

9 the Vermont Statutes Annotated (as in effect

10 on the date of enactment of the Fair and Accu11 rate Credit Transactions Act of 2003).’’.

12 SEC. 503. SIMPLER AND EASIER METHOD FOR CONSUMERS

13 TO USE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 604(e)(5)(A)(i) of the

15 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(e)(5)(A)(i))

16 is amended by inserting ‘‘in a simple and easy manner

17 and’’ after ‘‘notify the agency,’’.

18 (b) SIMPLIFIED NOTICE AND RESPONSE FORMAT

19 FOR USERS.—Section 615(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting

20 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m(d)) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and

22 (4), as paragraphs (3), (4) and (5); and

23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol24 lowing new paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(2) SIMPLE AND EASY NOTIFICATION.—Any

2 statement given the consumer under paragraph

3 (1)(E) shall be in a simple and easy to understand

4 format and shall describe the simple and easy meth5 od established under section 604(e)(5)(A)(i) for the

6 consumer to respond.’’.

7 SEC. 504. REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSE COMMUNICATIONS

8 TO A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 623(a) of the Fair Credit

10 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(a)) is amended by in11 serting after paragraph (6) (as added by section 304(3))

12 the following new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(7) NEGATIVE INFORMATION.—

14 ‘‘(A) NOTICE TO CONSUMER REQUIRED.—

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If any financial

16 institution that extends credit and regu17 larly and in the ordinary course of business

18 furnishes information to a consumer re19 porting agency described in section 603(p)

20 furnishes negative information to such an

21 agency regarding credit extended to a cus22 tomer, the financial institution shall pro23 vide a notice of such furnishing of negative

24 information, in writing, to the customer.
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1 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE EFFECTIVE FOR SUBSE2 QUENT SUBMISSIONS.—After providing

3 such notice, the financial institution may

4 submit additional negative information to a

5 consumer reporting agency described in

6 section 603(p) with respect to the same

7 transaction, extension of credit, account, or

8 customer without providing additional no9 tice to the customer.

10 ‘‘(B) TIME OF NOTICE.—

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The notice re12 quired under subparagraph (A) shall be

13 provided to the customer prior to, or no

14 later than 30 days after, furnishing the

15 negative information to a consumer report16 ing agency described in section 603(p).

17 ‘‘(ii) COORDINATION WITH NEW AC18 COUNT DISCLOSURES.—If the notice is

19 provided to the customer prior to fur20 nishing the negative information to a con21 sumer reporting agency, the notice may

22 not be included in the initial disclosures

23 provided under section 127(a) of the Truth

24 in Lending Act.
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1 ‘‘(C) COORDINATION WITH OTHER DISCLO2 SURES.—The notice required under subpara3 graph (A)—

4 ‘‘(i) may be included on or with any

5 notice of default, any billing statement, or

6 any other materials provided to the cus7 tomer; and

8 ‘‘(ii) must be clear and conspicuous.

9 ‘‘(D) MODEL DISCLOSURE.—

10 ‘‘(i) DUTY OF BOARD TO PREPARE.—

11 The Board shall prescribe a brief model

12 disclosure a financial institution may use

13 to comply with subparagraph (A), which

14 shall not exceed 30 words.

15 ‘‘(ii) USE OF MODEL NOT RE16 QUIRED.—No provision of this paragraph

17 shall be construed as requiring a financial

18 institution to use any such model form pre19 scribed by the Board.

20 ‘‘(iii) COMPLIANCE USING MODEL.—A

21 financial institution shall be deemed to be

22 in compliance with subparagraph (A) if the

23 financial institution uses any such model

24 form prescribed by the Board, or the fi-
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1 nancial institution uses any such model

2 form and rearranges its format.

3 ‘‘(E) USE OF NOTICE WITHOUT SUBMIT4 TING NEGATIVE INFORMATION.—No provision

5 of this paragraph shall be construed as requir6 ing a financial institution that has provided a

7 customer with a notice described in subpara8 graph (A) to furnish negative information about

9 the customer to a consumer reporting agency.

10 ‘‘(F) SAFE HARBOR.—A financial institu11 tion shall not be liable for failure to perform

12 the duties required by this paragraph if, at the

13 time of the failure, the financial institution

14 maintained reasonable policies and procedures

15 to comply with this paragraph or the financial

16 institution reasonably believed that the institu17 tion is prohibited, by law, from contacting the

18 consumer.

19 ‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this

20 paragraph, the following definitions shall apply:

21 ‘‘(i) NEGATIVE INFORMATION.—The

22 term ‘negative information’ means infor23 mation concerning a customer’s delin24 quencies, late payments, insolvency, or any

25 form of default.
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1 ‘‘(ii) CUSTOMER; FINANCIAL INSTITU2 TION.—The terms ‘customer’ and ‘finan3 cial institution’ have the same meaning as

4 in section 509 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley

5 Act.’’.

6 (b) MODEL DISCLOSURE FORM.—Before the end of

7 the 6-month period beginning on the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Board of Governors of the Federal

9 Reserve System shall adopt the model disclosure required

10 under the amendment made by subsection (a) after notice

11 duly given in the Federal Register and an opportunity for

12 public comment in accordance with section 553 of title 5,

13 United States Code.

14 SEC. 505. STUDY OF EFFECTS OF CREDIT SCORES AND

15 CREDIT-BASED INSURANCE SCORES ON

16 AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF FI17 NANCIAL PRODUCTS.

18 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Federal Trade Commis19 sion, in consultation with the Office of Fair Housing and

20 Equal Opportunity of the Department of Housing and

21 Urban Development, shall conduct a study of—

22 (1) the effects of the use of credit scores and

23 credit-based insurance scores on the availability and

24 affordability of financial products and services, in-
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1 cluding credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and

2 property and casualty insurance;

3 (2) the degree of causality between the factors

4 considered by credit score systems and the quantifi5 able risks and actual losses experienced by busi6 nesses, including the extent to which, if any, each of

7 the factors considered or otherwise taken into ac8 count by such systems are accurate predictors of

9 risk or loss, and where the means square error of a

10 scoring model’s predictions are considered in the

11 evaluation of accuracy;

12 (3) the extent to which, if any, the use of credit

13 scoring models, credit scores and credit-based insur14 ance scores result in disparate impact by geography,

15 income, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national ori16 gin, age, sex or marital status, and creed, including

17 the extent to which the consideration or lack of con18 sideration of certain factors by credit scoring sys19 tems could result in disparate effects and the extent

20 to which, if any, the use of underwriting systems re21 lying on these models could achieve comparable re22 sults through the use of factors with less disparate

23 impact; and

24 (4) the extent to which credit scoring systems

25 are used by businesses, the factors considered by
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1 such systems, and the effects of variables which are

2 not considered by such systems.

3 (b) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—The Commission shall

4 seek public input about the prescribed methodology and

5 research design of the study required in subsection (a).

6 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before the end of the 18-

8 month period beginning on the date of the enact9 ment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission

10 shall submit a detailed report on the study con11 ducted pursuant to subsection (a) to the Committee

12 on Financial Services of the House of Representa13 tives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and

14 Urban Affairs of the Senate.

15 (2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report sub16 mitted under paragraph (1) shall include the find17 ings and conclusions of the Commission, together

18 with such recommendations for legislative or admin19 istrative action as the Commission may determine to

20 be necessary to ensure that credit and credit-based

21 insurances score are used appropriately and fairly to

22 avoid disparate effects.

23 (d) CREDIT SCORE DEFINED.—For purposes of this

24 section, the term ‘‘credit score’’ means a numerical value

25 or a categorization derived from a statistical tool or mod-
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1 eling system used to predict the likelihood of certain credit

2 or insurance behaviors, including default.

3 SEC. 506. GAO STUDY ON DISPARATE IMPACT OF CREDIT

4 SYSTEM.

5 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Comptroller General

6 shall conduct a study of the credit system to determine

7 the extent to which, if any, discrimination exists with re8 gard to the availability and the terms of credit which has

9 a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, income and

10 education level, geographic location, age, sex, sexual ori11 entation, national origin, or marital status and the nature

12 of any such discriminatory effect.

13 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 2-

14 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this

15 Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report to the

16 Congress on the findings and conclusions of the Comp17 troller General pursuant to the study conducted under

18 subsection (a), together with such recommendations for

19 legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller

20 General may determine to be appropriate.

21 SEC. 507. ANALYSIS OF FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON OF22 FERS OF CREDIT OR INSURANCE.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Board of Governors of the

24 Federal Reserve System shall conduct a study of—
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1 (1) the ability of consumers to avoid receiving

2 written offers of credit or insurance in connection

3 with transactions not initiated by the consumer; and

4 (2) the potential impact any further restrictions

5 on providing consumers with such written offers of

6 credit or insurance would have on consumers.

7 (b) REPORT.—The Board of Governors of the Fed8 eral Reserve System shall submit a report summarizing

9 the results of the study required under subsection (a) to

10 the Congress no later than 12 months after the date of

11 the enactment of this Act, together with such

12 recommendatioons for legislative or administrative action

13 as the Board may determine to be appropriate.

14 (c) CONTENT OF REPORT.—The report described in

15 subsection (b) shall address the following issues:

16 (1) The current statutory or voluntary mecha17 nisms that are available to a consumer to notify

18 lenders and insurance providers that the consumer

19 does not wish to receive written offers of credit or

20 insurance.

21 (2) The extent to which consumers are cur22 rently utilizing existing statutory and voluntary

23 mechanisms to avoid receiving offers of credit or in24 surance.
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1 (3) The benefits provided to consumers as a re2 sult of receiving written offers of credit or insurance.

3 (4) Whether consumers incur significant costs

4 or are otherwise adversely affected by the receipt of

5 written offers of credit or insurance.

6 (5) Whether further restricting the ability of

7 lenders and insurers to provide written offers of

8 credit or insurance to consumers would affect—

9 (A) the cost consumers pay to obtain credit

10 or insurance;

11 (B) the availability of credit or insurance;

12 (C) consumers’ knowledge about new or al13 ternative products and services;

14 (D) the ability of lenders or insurers to

15 compete with one another; and

16 (E) the ability to offer credit or insurance

17 products to consumers who have been tradition18 ally underserved.

19 SEC. 508. STUDY ON THE NEED AND THE MEANS FOR IM20 PROVING FINANCIAL LITERACY AMONG CON21 SUMERS.

22 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Comptroller General

23 shall conduct a study to assess the extent of consumers’

24 knowledge and awareness of credit reports, credit scores,
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1 and the dispute resolution process, and on methods for

2 improving financial literacy among consumers.

3 (b) FACTORS TO BE INCLUDED.—The study re4 quired under subsection (a) shall include the following

5 issues:

6 (1) The number of consumers who view their

7 credit reports.

8 (2) Under what conditions and for what pur9 poses do consumers primarily obtain a copy of their

10 consumer report (such as for the purpose of ensur11 ing the completeness and accuracy of the contents,

12 to protect against fraud, in response to an adverse

13 action based on the report, or in response to sus14 pected identity theft) and approximately what per15 centage of the total number of consumers who ob16 tain a copy of their consumer report do so for each

17 such primary purpose.

18 (3) The extent of consumers’ knowledge of the

19 data collection process.

20 (4) The extent to which consumers know how to

21 get a copy of a consumer report.

22 (5) The extent to which consumers know and

23 understand the factors that positively or negatively

24 impact credit scores.
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1 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 9-

2 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of

3 this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report

4 to the Congress on the findings and conclusions of the

5 Comptroller General pursuant to the study conducted

6 under subsection (a), together with such recommendations

7 for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller

8 General may determine to be appropriate, including rec9 ommendations on methods for improving financial literacy

10 among consumers.

11 SEC. 509. DISCLOSURE OF INCREASE IN APR UNDER CER12 TAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

13 Section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

14 U.S.C. 1681m) is amended by inserting after subsection

15 (f) (as added by section 502(c) of this title) the following

16 new subsection:

17 ‘‘(g) DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The ability of a credit card

19 issuer to increase any annual percentage rate appli20 cable to a credit card account, or to remove or in21 crease any introductory annual percentage rate of

22 interest applicable to such account, for reasons other

23 than actions or omissions of the card holder that are

24 directly related to such account shall be clearly and

25 conspicuously disclosed to the consumer by the cred-
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1 it card issuer in any disclosure or statement required

2 to be made to the consumer under this title in con3 nection with a credit card solicitation that is not ini4 tiated by the consumer.

5 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS AND MODEL STATE6 MENTS.—The Board, in consultation with the Fed7 eral banking agencies and the National Credit Union

8 Administration, shall develop such guidelines in reg9 ulations as necessary to assure that the information

10 to be disclosed to consumers pursuant to paragraph

11 (1) is clearly and conspicuously provided in a promi12 nent location in any credit card solicitation that is

13 not initiated by the consumer, and shall include

14 model disclosure statements to be used by credit

15 card issuers in making the disclosures required to be

16 provided to the consumer by paragraph (1).’’.

17 TITLE VI—PROTECTING EM18 PLOYEE MISCONDUCT INVES19 TIGATIONS

20 SEC. 601. CERTAIN EMPLOYEE INVESTIGATION COMMU21 NICATIONS EXCLUDED FROM DEFINITION OF

22 CONSUMER REPORT.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 603 of the Fair Credit

24 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by inserting

25 after subsection (p) the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(q) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS FOR

2 EMPLOYEE INVESTIGATIONS.—

3 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS DESCRIBED IN THIS

4 SUBSECTION.—A communication is described in this

5 subsection if—

6 ‘‘(A) but for subsection (d)(2)(D), the

7 communication would be a consumer report;

8 ‘‘(B) the communication is made to an em9 ployer in connection with an investigation of—

10 ‘‘(i) suspected misconduct relating to

11 employment; or

12 ‘‘(ii) compliance with Federal, State,

13 or local laws and regulations, the rules of

14 a self-regulatory organization, or any pre15 existing written policies of the employer;

16 ‘‘(C) the communication is not made for

17 the purpose of investigating a consumer’s credit

18 worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity;

19 and

20 ‘‘(D) the communication is not provided to

21 any person except—

22 ‘‘(i) to the employer or an agent of

23 the employer;

24 ‘‘(ii) to any Federal or State officer,

25 agency, or department, or any officer,
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1 agency, or department of a unit of general

2 local government;

3 ‘‘(iii) to any self-regulatory organiza4 tion with regulatory authority over the ac5 tivities of the employer or employee;

6 ‘‘(iv) as otherwise required by law; or

7 ‘‘(v) pursuant to section 608.

8 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT DISCLOSURE.—After taking

9 any adverse action based in whole or in part on a

10 communication described in paragraph (1), the em11 ployer shall disclose to the consumer a summary

12 containing the nature and substance of the commu13 nication upon which the adverse action is based, ex14 cept that the sources of information acquired solely

15 for use in preparing what would be but for sub16 section (d)(2)(D) an investigative consumer report

17 need not be disclosed.

18 ‘‘(3) SELF-REGULATORY ORGANIZATION DE19 FINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the term

20 ‘self-regulatory organization’ includes any self-regu21 latory organization (as defined in section 3(a)(26) of

22 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934), any entity es23 tablished under title I of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of

24 2002, any board of trade designated by the Com-
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1 modity Futures Trading Commission, and any fu2 tures association registered with such Commission.’’.

3 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

4 Section 603(d)(2)(D) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

5 U.S.C. 1681a(d)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or (q)’’

6 after ‘‘subsection (o)’’.

7 TITLE VII—LIMITING THE USE

8 AND SHARING OF MEDICAL

9 INFORMATION IN THE FINAN10 CIAL SYSTEM

11 SEC. 701. PROTECTION OF MEDICAL INFORMATION IN THE

12 FINANCIAL SYSTEM.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 604(g) of the Fair Credit

14 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(g)) is amended to read

15 as follows:

16 ‘‘(g) PROTECTION OF MEDICAL INFORMATION.—

17 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON CONSUMER REPORTING

18 AGENCIES.—A consumer reporting agency shall not

19 furnish for employment purposes, or in connection

20 with a credit or insurance transaction, a consumer

21 report that contains medical information about a

22 consumer, unless—

23 ‘‘(A) if furnished in connection with an in24 surance transaction, the consumer affirmatively

25 consents to the furnishing of the report;
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1 ‘‘(B) if furnished for employment purposes

2 or in connection with a credit transaction—

3 ‘‘(i) the information to be furnished is

4 relevant to process or effect the employ5 ment or credit transaction; and

6 ‘‘(ii) the consumer provides specific

7 written consent for the furnishing of the

8 report that describes in clear and con9 spicuous language the use for which the in10 formation will be furnished; or

11 ‘‘(C) the information to be furnished per12 tains solely to transactions, accounts, or

13 balances relating to debts arising from the re14 ceipt of medical services, products, or devices,

15 where such information, other than account sta16 tus or amounts, is restricted or reported using

17 codes that do not identify, or do not provide in18 formation sufficient to infer, the specific pro19 vider or the nature of such services, products,

20 or devices, as provided in section 605(a)(6)).

21 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON CREDITORS.—Except as

22 permitted pursuant to paragraph (3)(C) or regula23 tions prescribed under paragraph (5)(A), a creditor

24 shall not obtain or use medical information per25 taining to a consumer in connection with any deter-
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1 mination of the consumer’s eligibility, or continued

2 eligibility, for credit.

3 ‘‘(3) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED BY FEDERAL LAW,

4 INSURANCE ACTIVITIES AND REGULATORY DETER5 MINATIONS.—Section 603(d)(3) shall not be con6 strued so as to treat information or any communica7 tion of information as a consumer report if the in8 formation or communication is disclosed—

9 ‘‘(A) in connection with the business of in10 surance or annuities, including the activities de11 scribed in section 18B of the model Privacy of

12 Consumer Financial and Health Information

13 Regulation issued by the National Association

14 of Insurance Commissioners (as in effect on

15 January 1, 2003);

16 ‘‘(B) for any purpose permitted without

17 authorization under the Standards for Individ18 ually Identifiable Health Information promul19 gated by the Department of Health and Human

20 Services pursuant to the Health Insurance

21 Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or

22 referred to under section 1179 of such Act, or

23 described in section 502(e) of Public Law 106–

24 102; or
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1 ‘‘(C) as otherwise determined to be nec2 essary and appropriate, by regulation or order

3 and subject to paragraph (6), by the Commis4 sion, any Federal banking agency or the Na5 tional Credit Union Administration (with re6 spect to any financial institution subject to the

7 jurisdiction of such agency or Administration

8 under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section

9 621(b), or the applicable State insurance au10 thority (with respect to any person engaged in

11 providing insurance or annuities).

12 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON REDISCLOSURE OF MED13 ICAL INFORMATION.—Any person that receives med14 ical information pursuant to paragraphs (1) or (3)

15 shall not disclose such information to any other per16 son except as necessary to carry out the purposes for

17 which the information was initially disclosed, or as

18 otherwise permitted by statute, regulation, or order.

19 ‘‘(5) REGULATIONS AND EFFECTIVE DATE FOR

20 PARAGRAPH (2).—

21 ‘‘(A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Each

22 Federal banking agency and the National Cred23 it Union Administration shall, subject to para24 graph (6) and after notice and opportunity for

25 comment, prescribe regulations that permit
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1 transactions under paragraph (2) that are de2 termined to be necessary and appropriate to

3 protect legitimate operational, transactional,

4 risk, consumer, and other needs (and which

5 shall include permitting actions necessary for

6 administrative verification purposes), consistent

7 with the intent of paragraph (2) to restrict the

8 use of medical information for inappropriate

9 purposes.

10 ‘‘(B) FINAL REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—

11 The Federal banking agencies and the National

12 Credit Union Administration shall prescribe the

13 regulations required under subparagraph (A) in

14 final form before the end of the 6-month period

15 beginning on the date of the enactment of the

16 Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of

17 2003.

18 ‘‘(6) COORDINATION WITH OTHER LAWS.—No

19 provision of this subsection shall be construed as al20 tering, affecting, or superseding the applicability of

21 any other provision of Federal law relating to med22 ical confidentiality.’’.

23 (b) RESTRICTION ON SHARING OF MEDICAL INFOR24 MATION.—Section 603(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting

25 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(d)) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘The term’’

2 and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (3),

3 the term’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new

5 paragraph:

6 ‘‘(3) RESTRICTION ON SHARING OF MEDICAL

7 INFORMATION.—Except for information or any com8 munication of information disclosed as provided in

9 section 604(g)(3), the exclusions in paragraph (2)

10 shall not apply with respect to information disclosed

11 to any person related by common ownership or affili12 ated by corporate control if—

13 ‘‘(A) the information is medical informa14 tion; or

15 ‘‘(B) the information is an individualized

16 list or description based on a consumer’s pay17 ment transactions for medical products or serv18 ices, or an aggregate list of identified con19 sumers based on payment transactions for med20 ical products or services.’’.

21 SEC. 702. CONFIDENTIALITY OF MEDICAL CONTACT INFOR22 MATION IN CREDIT REPORTS.

23 (a) DUTIES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION FUR24 NISHERS.—Section 623(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting

25 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(a)) is amended by inserting after
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1 paragraph (7) (as added by section 504(a)) the following

2 new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(8) DUTY TO PROVIDE NOTICE OF STATUS AS

4 MEDICAL INFORMATION FURNISHER.—A person

5 whose primary business is providing medical serv6 ices, products, or devices, or the person’s agent or

7 assignee, who furnishes information to a consumer

8 reporting agency on a consumer shall be considered

9 a medical information furnisher for the purposes of

10 this title and shall notify the agency of such sta11 tus.’’.

12 (b) RESTRICTION OF DISSEMINATION OF MEDICAL

13 CONTACT INFORMATION.—Section 605(a) of the Fair

14 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by

15 adding the following new paragraph:

16 ‘‘(6) The name, address, and telephone number

17 of any medical information furnisher that has noti18 fied the agency of its status, unless—

19 ‘‘(A) such name, address, and telephone

20 number are restricted or reported using codes

21 that do not identify, or provide information suf22 ficient to infer, the specific provider or the na23 ture of such services, products, or devices to a

24 person other than the consumer; or
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1 ‘‘(B) the report is being provided to an in2 surance company for a purpose relating to en3 gaging in the business of insurance other than

4 property and casualty insurance.’’.

5 (c) NO EXCEPTIONS ALLOWED FOR DOLLAR

6 AMOUNTS.—Section 605(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting

7 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘The

8 provisions of subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘The provi9 sions of paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (a)’’.

10 (d) COORDINATION WITH OTHER LAWS.—No provi11 sion of any amendment made by this section shall be con12 strued as altering, affecting, or superseding the applica13 bility of any other provision of Federal law relating to

14 medical confidentiality.

15 (e) FTC REGULATION OF CODING OF TRADE

16 NAMES.—Section 621 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

17 (15 U.S.C. 1681s) is amended by inserting after sub18 section (f) (as added by section 301 of this Act) the fol19 lowing new subsection:

20 ‘‘(g) FTC REGULATION OF CODING OF TRADE

21 NAMES.—If the Commission determines that a person de22 scribed in paragraph (8) of section 623(a) has not met

23 the requirements of such paragraph, the Commission shall

24 take action to ensure the person’s compliance with such

25 paragraph, which may include issuing model guidance or
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1 prescribing reasonable policies and procedures as nec2 essary to ensure that such person complies with such para3 graph.’’.

4 (f) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

5 Section 604(g) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

6 U.S.C. 1681b(g)) (as amended by section 701) is

7 amended—

8 (1) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘(other than

9 medical contact information treated in the manner

10 required under section 605(a)(6))’’ after ‘‘a con11 sumer report that contains medical information’’;

12 and

13 (2) in paragraph (2) by inserting ‘‘(other than

14 medical information treated in the manner required

15 under section 605(a)(6))’’ after ‘‘a creditor shall not

16 obtain or use medical information’’.

17 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

18 this section shall take effect at the end of the 15-month

19 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives September 10,

2003.

Attest:

Clerk.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2622

AN ACT

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to prevent identity theft, improve resolution of consumer disputes, improve the accuracy of consumer records, make improvements in the use of,

and consumer access to, credit information, andfor other purposes.