I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2622

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 26, 2003

Mr. BACHUS (for himself, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. 

MOORE, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. CASTLE, Mrs. 

MALONEY, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. FORD, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 

HENSARLING, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. ROSS, Mr. MATHESON, 

Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. BAKER, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. LUCAS

of Oklahoma, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. NEY, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. 

JONES of North Carolina, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. HART, Mr. MILLER of North 

Carolina, Mrs. CAPITO, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. BARRETT of 

South Carolina, Mr. FEENEY, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

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.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

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

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

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

5 this Act are as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

TITLE I—UNIFORM NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION 

STANDARDS 

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

TITLE II—IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION 

Sec. 201. Investigating changes of address. 

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. 

TITLE III—IMPROVING RESOLUTION OF CONSUMER DISPUTES 

Sec. 301. Coordination of consumer complaint investigations. 

Sec. 302. Notice of dispute through reseller. 

Sec. 303. 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. 

TITLE V—IMPROVEMENTS IN USE OF AND CONSUMER ACCESS 

TO CREDIT INFORMATION 

Sec. 501. Free reports annually. 

Sec. 502. Summary of credit scores. 

Sec. 503. Simpler and easier method for consumers to use notification system. 

TITLE VI—PROTECTING EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT 

INVESTIGATIONS 

Sec. 601. Certain employee investigation communications excluded from definition of consumer report.
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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) acts as a reseller of information by assem8 bling and merging information contained in the 

9 database of another consumer reporting agency or 

10 multiple consumer reporting agencies; and 

11 ‘‘(2) does not maintain a permanent database 

12 of the assembled or merged information from which 

13 new consumer reports are produced. 

14 ‘‘(s) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—

15 ‘‘(1) BOARD; CREDIT; CREDITOR.—The terms 

16 ‘Board’, ‘credit’ and ‘creditor’ have the same mean17 ings as in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act. 

18 ‘‘(2) ELECTRONIC FUND TRANSFER.—The term 

19 ‘electronic fund transfer’ has the same meaning as 

20 in section 903 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. 

21 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL BANKING AGENCY.—The term 

22 ‘Federal banking agency’ has the same meaning as 

23 in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. 

24 ‘‘(4) IDENTITY THEFT.—The term ‘identity 

25 theft’ includes a violation of section 1028, 1029, or 

26 1030 of title 18, United States Code.’’. 
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1 TITLE I—UNIFORM NATIONAL 

2 CONSUMER PROTECTION 

3 STANDARDS 

4 SEC. 101. UNIFORM NATIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTIONS 

5 STANDARDS MADE PERMANENT. 

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

7 U.S.C. 1681t(d)) is amended—

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

9 all that follows through ‘‘do not affect any settle10 ment,’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsections (b) and (c) do 

11 not affect any settlement,’’; and 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘Consumer Credit Reporting 

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

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

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

16 TITLE II—IDENTITY THEFT 

17 PREVENTION 

18 SEC. 201. INVESTIGATING CHANGES OF ADDRESS. 

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

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

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

22 ‘‘(g) INVESTIGATION OF CHANGES OF ADDRESS.—If 

23 a credit card issuer receives a request for an additional 

24 credit card with respect to an existing credit card account 
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1 within 30 days after receiving notification of a change of 

2 address for that account, the card issuer shall—

3 ‘‘(1) notify the cardholder of the request—

4 ‘‘(A) at both the new address and the 

5 former address of the cardholder; or 

6 ‘‘(B) by such other means of communica7 tion as the cardholder and the credit card 

8 issuer previously agreed to, 

9 in accordance with reasonable policies and proce10 dures established by the card issuer pursuant to reg11 ulations which the Board shall prescribe; and 

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

13 promptly reporting incorrect changes.’’. 

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—

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

16 Credit Reporting Act is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘§ 605. Requirements relating to information con18 tained in consumer reports and to iden19 tity theft.’’. 

20 (2) The table of sections for title VI of the Con21 sumer Credit Protection Act is amended by striking 

22 the item relating to section 605 and inserting the 

23 following new item:

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

to identity theft.’’.
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1 SEC. 202. FRAUD ALERTS. 

2 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

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

5 ‘‘(i) FRAUD ALERTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the request of a con7 sumer who asserts in good faith a suspicion that the 

8 consumer has been or is about to become a victim 

9 of fraud or related crime, and upon receiving proper 

10 identification, a consumer reporting agency shall in11 clude a fraud alert in the file of that consumer. 

12 ‘‘(2) NOTICE TO USERS.—A consumer reporting 

13 agency shall notify each person procuring a con14 sumer report with respect to a consumer of the ex15 istence of a fraud alert in effect for such consumer, 

16 regardless of whether a full credit report, credit 

17 score, or summary report is requested. 

18 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—No user of a consumer re19 port with a fraud alert may issue or extend credit 

20 in the name of the consumer to a person other than 

21 the consumer without attempting to obtain the au22 thorization or preauthorization of the consumer in 

23 the manner contained in the fraud alert in effect for 

24 such consumer. 

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

26 ‘fraud alert’ means a clear and conspicuous state-
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1 ment in the file of a consumer that notifies all pro2 spective users of a consumer report made with re3 spect to that consumer that the consumer does not 

4 authorize the issuance or extension of credit in the 

5 name of the consumer unless— 

6 ‘‘(A) the issuer or extender of such credit 

7 first obtains verbal authorization from the con8 sumer at a telephone number designated by the 

9 consumer; or 

10 ‘‘(B) the issuer of such credit utilizes an11 other reasonable means of communication to 

12 obtain the express authorization or 

13 preauthorization of the consumer. 

14 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTIONS.—

15 ‘‘(A) RESELLERS.—

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

17 this subsection shall not apply to a reseller. 

18 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—A reseller shall 

19 preserve any fraud alert placed on a con20 sumer report by another consumer report21 ing agency. 

22 ‘‘(B) EXEMPT INSTITUTIONS.—The re23 quirement under this subsection to place a 

24 fraud alert in a consumer file shall not apply 

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

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

6 ‘‘(ii) a deposit account information 

7 service company, which issues reports re8 garding account closures due to fraud, sub9 stantial overdrafts, automated teller ma10 chine abuse, or similar negative informa11 tion regarding a consumer, to inquiring 

12 banks or other financial institutions for 

13 use only in reviewing a consumer request 

14 for a demand deposit account at the in15 quiring bank or financial institution.’’. 

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

17 ACCOUNT NUMBERS. 

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

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

20 limited liability company that accepts credit cards or debit 

21 cards for the transaction of business shall print more than 

22 the last 4 digits of the card account number or the expira23 tion date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at 

24 the point of the sale or transaction. 
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1 (b) LIMITATION.—This section applies only to re2 ceipts that are electronically printed, and does not apply 

3 to transactions in which the sole means of recording the 

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

5 handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the card. 

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

7 following definitions shall apply: 

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

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

10 in Lending Act. 

11 (2) DEBIT CARD.—The term ‘‘debit card’’ 

12 means any card issued by a financial institution to 

13 a consumer for use in initiating electronic fund 

14 transfers (as defined in section 903(6) of the Elec15 tronic Fund Transfer Act) from the account (as de16 fined in such Act) of the consumer at such financial 

17 institution for the purpose of transferring money be18 tween accounts or obtaining money, property, labor, 

19 or services. 

20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall become ef21 fective on—

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

23 register or other machine or device that electroni24 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit card 
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1 transactions that is in use before January 1, 2005; 

2 and 

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

4 register or other machine or device that electroni5 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit card 

6 transactions that is first put into use on or after 

7 such date. 

8 SEC. 204. SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC9 TIMS. 

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

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

12 at the end the following new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(d) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC14 TIMS.—A consumer reporting agency shall establish rea15 sonable policies and procedures for providing consumers 

16 who have reason to believe they are the victims of fraud 

17 or identity theft involving credit, electronic fund transfers, 

18 or accounts or transactions at or with a financial institu19 tion with a summary of the rights of consumers under the 

20 Consumer Credit Protection Act and other provisions of 

21 Federal law and procedures for remedying the effects of 

22 any such alleged offense.’’. 

23 (b) BEST PRACTICES.—The Federal Trade Commis24 sion shall develop guidelines for model policies and model
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1 procedures with regard to the summary of rights required 

2 under the amendment made by subsection (a). 

3 SEC. 205. BLOCKING OF INFORMATION RESULTING FROM 

4 IDENTITY THEFT. 

5 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

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

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

8 new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(j) BLOCK OF INFORMATION RESULTING FROM

10 IDENTITY THEFT.—

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

12 (3) and not later than 30 days after the date of re13 ceipt of proof of the identity of a consumer and an 

14 official copy of a police report evidencing the claim 

15 of the consumer of identity theft, a consumer report16 ing agency shall block the reporting of any informa17 tion identified by the consumer in the file of the con18 sumer resulting from the alleged identity theft, so 

19 that the information cannot be reported. 

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

21 agency shall promptly notify the furnisher of infor22 mation identified by the consumer under paragraph 

23 (1)—

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

25 of identity theft; 
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1 ‘‘(B) that a police report has been filed; 

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

3 this subsection; and 

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

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

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

7 agency may decline to block, or may rescind 

8 any block, of consumer information under this 

9 subsection if—

10 ‘‘(i) the consumer reporting agency 

11 reasonably determined that—

12 ‘‘(I) the information was blocked 

13 due to a misrepresentation of fact by 

14 the consumer relevant to the request 

15 to block; or 

16 ‘‘(II) the consumer knowingly ob17 tained possession of goods, services, or 

18 moneys as a result of the blocked 

19 transaction or transactions, or the 

20 consumer should have known that the 

21 consumer obtained possession of 

22 goods, services, or moneys as a result 

23 of the blocked transaction or trans24 actions; or 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the consumer agrees that the 

2 blocked information or portions of the 

3 blocked information were blocked in error. 

4 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION TO CONSUMER.—If 

5 the block of information is declined or rescinded 

6 under this paragraph, the affected consumer 

7 shall be notified promptly, in the same manner 

8 as consumers are notified of the reinsertion of 

9 information under section 611(a)(5)(B). 

10 ‘‘(C) SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOCK.—For pur11 poses of this paragraph, if a consumer report12 ing agency rescinds a block, the presence of in13 formation in the file of a consumer prior to the 

14 blocking of such information is not evidence of 

15 whether the consumer knew or should have 

16 known that the consumer obtained possession of 

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

18 block. 

19 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTIONS.—

20 ‘‘(A) NEGATIVE INFORMATION DATA.—A 

21 consumer reporting agency shall not be required 

22 to comply with this subsection when such agen23 cy is issuing information for authorizations, for 

24 the purpose of approving or processing nego25 tiable instruments, electronic funds transfers, 
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1 or similar methods of payment, based solely on 

2 negative information, including—

3 ‘‘(i) dishonored checks; 

4 ‘‘(ii) accounts closed for cause; 

5 ‘‘(iii) substantial overdrafts; 

6 ‘‘(iv) abuse of automated teller ma7 chines; or 

8 ‘‘(v) other information which indicates 

9 a risk of fraud occurring. 

10 ‘‘(B) RESELLERS.—

11 ‘‘(i) NO RESELLER FILE.—The provi12 sions of this subsection do not apply to a 

13 consumer reporting agency if the consumer 

14 reporting agency—

15 ‘‘(I) is a reseller; 

16 ‘‘(II) is not, at the time of the re17 quest of the consumer under para18 graph (1), otherwise furnishing or re19 selling a consumer report concerning 

20 the information identified by the con21 sumer; and 

22 ‘‘(III) informs the consumer, by 

23 any means, that the consumer may re24 port the identity theft to the Federal 
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1 Trade Commission to obtain consumer 

2 information regarding identity theft. 

3 ‘‘(ii) RESELLER WITH FILE.—The 

4 sole obligation of the consumer reporting 

5 agency under this subsection, with regard 

6 to any request of a consumer under this 

7 subsection, shall be to block the consumer 

8 report maintained by the consumer report9 ing agency from any subsequent use if—

10 ‘‘(I) the consumer, in accordance 

11 with the provisions of paragraph (1), 

12 identifies, to a consumer reporting 

13 agency, information in the file of the 

14 consumer that resulted from identity 

15 theft; and 

16 ‘‘(II) the consumer reporting 

17 agency is a reseller of the identified 

18 information. 

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

20 obligation under clause (ii), the reseller 

21 shall promptly provide a notice to the con22 sumer of the decision to block the file. 

23 Such notice shall contain the name, ad24 dress, and telephone number of each con25 sumer reporting agency from which the
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1 consumer information was obtained for re2 sale.’’. 

3 SEC. 206. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCEDURES FOR DEPOSI4 TORY INSTITUTIONS TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE 

5 INSTANCES OF IDENTITY THEFT. 

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

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

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

9 the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(k) ‘RED FLAG’ GUIDELINES REQUIRED.—The 

11 Federal banking agencies shall jointly establish and main12 tain guidelines for use by insured depository institutions 

13 in identifying patterns, practices, and specific forms of ac14 tivity that indicate the possible existence of identity theft, 

15 and update such guidelines as often as necessary.’’. 

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

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

18 period beginning the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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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 subsections: 

9 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT IN10 VESTIGATIONS.— Not later than 365 days after the date 

11 of enactment of the Fair and Accurate Credit Trans12 actions Act of 2003, the Federal Trade Commission shall 

13 prescribe rules in accordance with section 553 of title 5, 

14 United States Code—

15 ‘‘(1) to develop procedures for referral of con16 sumer complaints under this title about identity 

17 theft and fraud alerts between and among the con18 sumer reporting agencies and the Commission; and 

19 ‘‘(2) to develop a model form and model proce20 dures to be used by consumers who are victims of 

21 identity fraud for contacting and informing creditors 

22 and consumer reporting agencies of the fraud.’’. 

23 SEC. 302. NOTICE OF DISPUTE THROUGH RESELLER. 

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

25 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting 
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1 ‘‘, or indirectly through a reseller,’’ after ‘‘notifies the 

2 agency directly’’. 

3 SEC. 303. PROMPT INVESTIGATION OF DISPUTED CON4 SUMER INFORMATION. 

5 (A) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Board of Governors of 

6 the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Com7 mission shall each study the extent to which, and the man8 ner in which, consumer reporting agencies and furnishers 

9 of consumer information to consumer reporting agencies 

10 are complying with the procedures, time lines, and require11 ments under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for the prompt 

12 investigation of the disputed accuracy of any consumer in13 formation and the prompt correction or deletion, in ac14 cordance with such Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete 

15 information or information that cannot be verified. 

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

17 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 

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

19 System and the Federal Trade Commission shall each sub20 mit a progress report to the Congress on the results of 

21 the study required under subsection (a). 

22 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The report under sub23 section (b) shall include such recommendations as the 

24 Board and the Commission determine to be appropriate 

25 for legislative or administrative action to ensure that—
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1 (1) consumer disputes with consumer reporting 

2 agencies over the accuracy or completeness of infor3 mation in a consumer’s file are promptly and fully 

4 investigated and any incorrect, incomplete, or un5 verifiable information is immediately corrected or de6 leted; 

7 (2) furnishers of information to consumer re8 porting agencies maintain full and prompt compli9 ance with the duties and responsibilities established 

10 under section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act; 

11 and 

12 (3) consumer reporting agencies establish and 

13 maintain appropriate internal controls and manage14 ment review procedures for maintaining full and 

15 continuous compliance with the procedures, time 

16 lines, and requirements under the Fair Credit Re17 porting Act for the prompt investigation of the dis18 puted accuracy of any consumer information and the 

19 prompt correction or deletion, in accordance with 

20 such Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete informa21 tion or information that cannot be verified. 

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

23 terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer report’’, and ‘‘consumer re24 porting agency’’ have the same meaning as in the Fair 

25 Credit Reporting Act. 
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1 TITLE IV—IMPROVING ACCU2 RACY OF CONSUMER 

3 RECORDS 

4 SEC. 401. RECONCILING ADDRESSES. 

5 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

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

7 (g) (as added by section 201 of this Act) the following 

8 new subsection. 

9 ‘‘(h) NOTICE OF DISCREPANCY.—In any case in 

10 which a person has requested a consumer report relating 

11 to a consumer, and the request includes an address for 

12 the consumer that substantially differs from the most re13 cent address in the file of the consumer, the consumer re14 porting agency shall—

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

16 and 

17 ‘‘(2) reconcile or resolve, within 30 days, any 

18 substantial variation between the most recent ad19 dress in the file of the consumer at the agency and 

20 the address contained in the request, in accordance 

21 with reasonable policies and procedures established 

22 by the consumer reporting agency.’’.
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1 SEC. 402. PREVENTION OF REPOLLUTION OF CONSUMER 

2 REPORTS. 

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

4 (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION KNOWN TO INCLUDE

7 IDENTITY THEFT ACTIVITY.—A person may not 

8 furnish information to any consumer reporting 

9 agency that the person knows or has reason to 

10 believe has resulted from fraudulent activity, in11 cluding identity theft.’’. 

12 SEC. 403. NOTICE BY USERS WITH RESPECT TO FRAUDU13 LENT INFORMATION. 

14 Section 615 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 1681m) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(e) NOTICE OF FRAUDULENT INFORMATION RE18 LATING TO IDENTITY THEFT.—Any assignee or agent, in19 cluding a debt collector (as defined in title VIII), of a per20 son who uses a consumer report on any consumer, who 

21 learns that any information in such consumer report is 

22 fraudulent and may be the result of identity theft shall 

23 notify the person of such fraudulent information.’’. 
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1 TITLE V—IMPROVEMENTS IN 

2 USE OF AND CONSUMER AC3 CESS TO CREDIT INFORMA4 TION 

5 SEC. 501. FREE REPORTS ANNUALLY. 

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

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

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

9 of the consumer, a consumer reporting agency shall make 

10 all disclosures pursuant to section 609 once during any 

11 12-month period without charge to the consumer.’’. 

12 SEC. 502. SUMMARY OF CREDIT SCORES. 

13 Section 609(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

14 (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘except 

15 that nothing’’ and all that follows through the period at 

16 the end and inserting ‘‘including a summary of how any 

17 individual credit score of the consumer was derived and 

18 how such score might be improved.’’. 

19 SEC. 503. SIMPLER AND EASIER METHOD FOR CONSUMERS 

20 TO USE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM. 

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

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

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

24 and’’ after ‘‘notify the agency,’’. 
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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

2 Section 615(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 1681m(d)) is amended—

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

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

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol7 lowing new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(2) SIMPLE AND EASY NOTIFICATION.—Any 

9 statement given the consumer under paragraph 

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

11 format and shall afford a simple and easy method 

12 for the consumer to respond.’’. 

13 TITLE VI—PROTECTING EM14 PLOYEE MISCONDUCT INVES15 TIGATIONS 

16 SEC. 601. CERTAIN EMPLOYEE INVESTIGATION COMMU17 NICATIONS EXCLUDED FROM DEFINITION OF 

18 CONSUMER REPORT. 

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

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

21 (1) by redesignating subsection (p) as sub22 section (q); and 

23 (2) by inserting after subsection (o) the fol24 lowing new subsection: 
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1 ‘‘(p) 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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•HR 2622 IH 

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 (p)’’ 

6 after ‘‘subsection (o)’’.

Æ