In the Senate of the United States,

November 5, 2003.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 2622) entitled ‘‘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.’’, do pass

with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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

3 ‘‘National Consumer Credit Reporting System Improve4 ment Act of 2003’’.
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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

2 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION AND CREDIT HISTORY

RESTORATION

Subtitle A—Identity Theft Prevention

Sec. 111. Definitions.

Sec. 112. Fraud alerts and active duty alerts.

Sec. 113. Truncation of credit card and debit card account numbers.

Sec. 114. Establishment of procedures for the identification of possible instances of identity theft.

Sec. 115. Amendments to existing identity theft prohibition.

Sec. 116. Authority to truncate social security numbers.

Subtitle B—Protection and Restoration of Identity Theft Victim Credit

History

Sec. 151. Summary of rights of identity theft victims.

Sec. 152. Blocking of information resulting from identity theft.

Sec. 153. Coordination of identity theft complaint investigations.

Sec. 154. Prevention of repollution of consumer reports.

Sec. 155. Notice by debt collectors with respect to fraudulent information.

Sec. 156. Statute of limitations.

TITLE II—IMPROVEMENTS IN USE OF AND CONSUMER ACCESS

TO CREDIT INFORMATION

Sec. 211. Free credit reports.

Sec. 212. Credit scores.

Sec. 213. Enhanced disclosure of the means available to opt out of prescreened

lists.

Sec. 214. Affiliate sharing.

Sec. 215. Study of effects of credit scores and credit-based insurance scores on

availability and affordability of financial products.

Sec. 216. Disposal of consumer report information and records.

TITLE III—ENHANCING THE ACCURACY OF CONSUMER REPORT

INFORMATION

Sec. 311. Risk-based pricing notice.

Sec. 312. Procedures to enhance the accuracy and completeness of information

furnished to consumer reporting agencies.

Sec. 313. Federal Trade Commission and consumer reporting agency action

concerning complaints.

Sec. 314. Ongoing audits of the accuracy of consumer reports.

Sec. 315. Improved disclosure of the results of reinvestigation.

Sec. 316. Reconciling addresses.

Sec. 317. FTC study of issues relating to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

TITLE IV—LIMITING THE USE AND SHARING OF MEDICAL

INFORMATION IN THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
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Sec. 411. Protection of medical information in the financial system.

Sec. 412. Confidentiality of medical contact information in consumer reports.

TITLE V—FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT

Sec. 511. Short title.

Sec. 512. Definitions.

Sec. 513. Establishment of Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

Sec. 514. Duties of the Commission.

Sec. 515. Powers of the Commission.

Sec. 516. Commission personnel matters.

Sec. 517. Study by the Comptroller General.

Sec. 518. Authorization of appropriations.

TITLE VI—RELATION TO STATE LAW

Sec. 611. Relation to State law.

TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 711. Clerical amendments.

1 TITLE I—IDENTITY THEFT PRE2 VENTION AND CREDIT HIS3 TORY RESTORATION

4 Subtitle A—Identity Theft

5 Prevention

6 SEC. 111. DEFINITIONS.

7 Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

8 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(q) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO FRAUD ALERTS.—

11 ‘‘(1) ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY CONSUMER.—The

12 term ‘active duty military consumer’ means a con13 sumer in military service who—

14 ‘‘(A) is on active duty (as defined in sec15 tion 101(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code)

16 or is a reservist performing duty under a call
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1 or order to active duty under a provision of law

2 referred to in section 101(a)(13) of title 10,

3 United States Code; and

4 ‘‘(B) is assigned to service away from the

5 usual duty station of the consumer.

6 ‘‘(2) FRAUD ALERT; ACTIVE DUTY ALERT.—

7 The terms ‘fraud alert’ and ‘active duty alert’ mean

8 a statement in the file of a consumer that—

9 ‘‘(A) notifies all prospective users of a con10 sumer report relating to the consumer that the

11 consumer may be a victim of fraud, including

12 identity theft, or is an active duty military con13 sumer, as applicable;

14 ‘‘(B) provides to all prospective users of a

15 consumer report relating to the consumer, a

16 telephone number or other reasonable contact

17 method designated by the consumer for the user

18 to obtain authorization from the consumer be19 fore establishing new credit (including providing

20 any increase in a credit limit with respect to an

21 existing credit account) in the name of the con22 sumer; and

23 ‘‘(C) is presented in a manner that facili24 tates a clear and conspicuous view of the state-
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1 ment described in subparagraph (A) or (B) by

2 any person requesting such consumer report.

3 ‘‘(r) CREDIT CARD.—The term ‘credit card’ has the

4 same meaning as in section 103 of the Truth in Lending

5 Act.

6 ‘‘(s) DEBIT CARD.—The term ‘debit card’ means any

7 card issued by a financial institution to a consumer for

8 use in initiating an electronic fund transfer from the ac9 count of the consumer at such financial institution, for

10 the purpose of transferring money between accounts or ob11 taining money, property, labor, or services.

12 ‘‘(t) ACCOUNT AND ELECTRONIC FUND TRANS13 FER.—The terms ‘account’ and ‘electronic fund transfer’

14 have the same meanings as in section 903 of the Elec15 tronic Fund Transfer Act.

16 ‘‘(u) CREDIT AND CREDITOR—The terms ‘credit’ and

17 ‘creditor’ have the same meanings as in section 702 of

18 the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

19 ‘‘(v) FEDERAL BANKING AGENCIES.—The term

20 ‘Federal banking agencies’ has the same meaning as in

21 section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

22 ‘‘(w) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘financial

23 institution’ means a State or National bank, a State or

24 Federal savings and loan association, a mutual savings

25 bank, a State or Federal credit union, or any other person
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1 that, directly or indirectly, holds an account belonging to

2 a consumer.

3 ‘‘(x) RESELLER.—The term ‘reseller’ means a con4 sumer reporting agency that—

5 ‘‘(1) assembles and merges information con6 tained in the database of another consumer report7 ing agency or multiple consumer reporting agencies

8 concerning any consumer for purposes of furnishing

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

10 such activities; and

11 ‘‘(2) does not maintain a database of the as12 sembled or merged information from which new con13 sumer reports are produced.

14 ‘‘(y) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO CREDIT SCORES.—

15 ‘‘(1) CREDIT SCORE AND KEY FACTORS.—When

16 used in connection with an application for an exten17 sion of credit for a consumer purpose that is to be

18 secured by a dwelling—

19 ‘‘(A) the term ‘credit score’—

20 ‘‘(i) means a numerical value or cat21 egorization derived from a statistical tool

22 or modeling system used to predict the

23 likelihood of certain credit behaviors, in24 cluding default; and

25 ‘‘(ii) does not include—
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1 ‘‘(I) any mortgage score or rating

2 of an automated underwriting system

3 that considers 1 or more factors in

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

6 amount of down payment, or the fi7 nancial assets of a consumer; or

8 ‘‘(II) other elements of the un9 derwriting process or underwriting de10 cision; and

11 ‘‘(B) the term ‘key factors’ means all rel12 evant elements or reasons affecting the credit

13 score for a consumer, listed in the order of their

14 importance, based on their respective effects on

15 the credit score.

16 ‘‘(2) DWELLING.—The term ‘dwelling’ has the

17 same meaning as in section 103 of the Truth in

18 Lending Act.

19 ‘‘(z) IDENTITY THEFT REPORT.—The term ‘identity

20 theft report’ means a report—

21 ‘‘(1) that alleges an identity theft;

22 ‘‘(2) that is filed by a consumer with an appro23 priate Federal, State, or local government agency,

24 including the United States Postal Inspection Serv25 ice and any law enforcement agency; and
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1 ‘‘(3) the filing of which subjects the person fil2 ing the report to criminal penalties relating to the

3 filing of false information if, in fact, the information

4 in the report is false.’’.

5 SEC. 112. FRAUD ALERTS AND ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS.

6 The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et

7 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 605 the fol8 lowing:

9 ‘‘§ 605A. Identity theft prevention; fraud alerts and

10 active duty alerts

11 ‘‘(a) ONE-CALL FRAUD ALERTS.—

12 ‘‘(1) INITIAL ALERTS.—Upon the request of a

13 consumer who asserts in good faith a suspicion that

14 the consumer has been or is about to become a vic15 tim of fraud or related crime, including identity

16 theft, a consumer reporting agency described in sec17 tion 603(p) that maintains a file on the consumer

18 and has received appropriate proof of the identity of

19 the requester shall—

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

21 that consumer for a period of not less than 90

22 days, beginning on the date of such request, un23 less the consumer requests that such fraud alert

24 be removed before the end of such period, and
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1 the agency has received appropriate proof of the

2 identity of the requester for such purpose; and

3 ‘‘(B) refer the information regarding the

4 fraud alert under this paragraph to each of the

5 other consumer reporting agencies described in

6 section 603(p), in accordance with procedures

7 developed under section 621(f).

8 ‘‘(2) ACCESS TO FREE REPORTS.—In any case

9 in which a consumer reporting agency includes a

10 fraud alert in the file of a consumer pursuant to this

11 subsection, the consumer reporting agency shall—

12 ‘‘(A) disclose to the consumer that the con13 sumer may request a free copy of the file of the

14 consumer pursuant to section 612(d); and

15 ‘‘(B) provide to the consumer all disclo16 sures required to be made under section 609,

17 without charge to the consumer, not later than

18 3 business days after any request described in

19 subparagraph (A).

20 ‘‘(b) EXTENDED ALERTS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the request of a con22 sumer who submits an identity theft report to a con23 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p)

24 that maintains a file on the consumer, if the agency
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1 has received appropriate proof of the identity of the

2 requester, the agency shall—

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

4 that consumer during the 7-year period begin5 ning on the date of such request, unless the

6 consumer requests that such fraud alert be re7 moved before the end of such period and the

8 agency has received appropriate proof of the

9 identity of the requester for such purpose;

10 ‘‘(B) during the 7-year period beginning on

11 the date of such request, exclude the consumer

12 from any list of consumers prepared by the con13 sumer reporting agency and provided to any

14 third party to offer credit or insurance to the

15 consumer as part of a transaction that was not

16 initiated by the consumer, unless the consumer

17 requests that such exclusion be rescinded before

18 the end of such period; and

19 ‘‘(C) refer the information regarding the

20 extended fraud alert under this paragraph to

21 each of the other consumer reporting agencies

22 described in section 603(p), in accordance with

23 procedures developed under section 621(f).

24 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION OF IDENTITY THEFT

25 CLAIM.—For purposes of paragraph (1), a consumer
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1 reporting agency shall accept as proof of a claim of

2 identity theft, in lieu of an identity theft report—

3 ‘‘(A) a properly completed copy of a stand4 ardized affidavit of identity theft developed and

5 made available by the Federal Trade Commis6 sion; or

7 ‘‘(B) any affidavit of fact that is accept8 able to the consumer reporting agency for that

9 purpose.

10 ‘‘(3) ACCESS TO FREE REPORTS.—In any case

11 in which a consumer reporting agency includes a

12 fraud alert in the file of a consumer pursuant to this

13 subsection, the consumer reporting agency shall—

14 ‘‘(A) disclose to the consumer that the con15 sumer may request 2 free copies of the file of

16 the consumer pursuant to section 612(d) during

17 the 12-month period beginning on the date on

18 which the fraud alert was included in the file;

19 and

20 ‘‘(B) provide to the consumer all disclo21 sures required to be made under section 609,

22 without charge to the consumer, not later than

23 3 business days after any request described in

24 subparagraph (A).
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1 ‘‘(c) ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS.—Upon the request of an

2 active duty military consumer, a consumer reporting agen3 cy described in section 603(p) that maintains a file on the

4 active duty military consumer and has received appro5 priate proof of the identity of the requester shall—

6 ‘‘(1) include an active duty alert in the file of

7 that active duty military consumer during a period

8 of not less than 12 months, beginning on the date

9 of the request, unless the active duty military con10 sumer requests that such fraud alert be removed be11 fore the end of such period, and the agency has re12 ceived appropriate proof of the identity of the re13 quester for such purpose;

14 ‘‘(2) during the 12-month period beginning on

15 the date of such request, exclude the active duty

16 military consumer from any list of consumers pre17 pared by the consumer reporting agency and pro18 vided to any third party to offer credit or insurance

19 to the consumer as part of a transaction that was

20 not initiated by the consumer, unless the consumer

21 requests that such exclusion be rescinded before the

22 end of such period; and

23 ‘‘(3) refer the information regarding the active

24 duty alert to each of the other consumer reporting
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1 agencies described in section 603(p), in accordance

2 with procedures developed under section 621(f).

3 ‘‘(d) PROCEDURES.—Each consumer reporting agen4 cy described in section 603(p) shall establish policies and

5 procedures to comply with this section, including proce6 dures that allow consumers and active duty military con7 sumers to request temporary, extended, or active duty

8 alerts (as applicable) in a simple and easy manner, includ9 ing by telephone.

10 ‘‘(e) REFERRALS OF FRAUD ALERTS.—Each con11 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) that

12 receives a referral of a fraud alert or active duty alert from

13 another consumer reporting agency pursuant to this sec14 tion shall, as though the agency received the request from

15 the consumer directly, follow the procedures required

16 under—

17 ‘‘(1) paragraphs (1)(A) and (2) of subsection

18 (a), in the case of a referral under subsection

19 (a)(1)(B);

20 ‘‘(2) paragraphs (1)(A), (1)(B), and (3) of sub21 section (b), in the case of a referral under subsection

22 (b)(1)(C); and

23 ‘‘(3) paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (c),

24 in the case of a referral under subsection (c)(3).
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1 ‘‘(f) DUTY OF RESELLER TO RECONVEY ALERT.—

2 A reseller shall include in its report any fraud alert or

3 active duty alert placed in the file of a consumer pursuant

4 to this section by another consumer reporting agency.

5 ‘‘(g) DUTY OF OTHER CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN6 CIES TO PROVIDE CONTACT INFORMATION.—If a con7 sumer contacts any consumer reporting agency that is not

8 described in section 603(p) to communicate a suspicion

9 that the consumer has been or is about to become a victim

10 of fraud or related crime, including identity theft, the

11 agency shall provide information to the consumer on how

12 to contact the Federal Trade Commission and the con13 sumer reporting agencies described in section 603(p) to

14 obtain more detailed information and request alerts under

15 this section.’’.

16 SEC. 113. TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT CARD

17 ACCOUNT NUMBERS.

18 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

19 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing:

21 ‘‘(g) TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT

22 CARD NUMBERS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise specifi24 cally provided in this subsection, no person that ac25 cepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction
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1 of business shall print more than the last 5 digits

2 of the card account number or the expiration date

3 upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the

4 point of the sale or transaction.

5 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—This subsection applies only

6 to receipts that are electronically printed, and does

7 not apply to transactions in which the sole means of

8 recording a credit card or debit card account num9 ber is by handwriting or by an imprint or copy of

10 the card.

11 ‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall

12 become effective—

13 ‘‘(A) 3 years after the date of enactment

14 of this subsection, with respect to any cash reg15 ister or other machine or device that electroni16 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit

17 card transactions that is in use before January

18 1, 2005; and

19 ‘‘(B) 1 year after the date of enactment of

20 this subsection, with respect to any cash reg21 ister or other machine or device that electroni22 cally prints receipts for credit card or debit

23 card transactions that is first put into use on

24 or after January 1, 2005.’’.
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1 SEC. 114. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCEDURES FOR THE

2 IDENTIFICATION OF POSSIBLE INSTANCES

3 OF IDENTITY THEFT.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 615 of the Fair Credit

5 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m) is amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘(e)’’ at the end; and

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

8 ‘‘(e) RED FLAG GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS RE9 QUIRED.—

10 ‘‘(1) GUIDELINES.—The Federal banking agen11 cies, the National Credit Union Administration, and

12 the Federal Trade Commission shall, with respect to

13 the entities that are subject to their respective en14 forcement authority under section 621, and in co15 ordination as described in paragraph (2)—

16 ‘‘(A) establish and maintain guidelines for

17 use by each financial institution and each other

18 person that is a creditor or other user of a con19 sumer report regarding identity theft with re20 spect to account holders at, or customers of,

21 such entities, and update such guidelines as

22 often as necessary;

23 ‘‘(B) prescribe regulations requiring each

24 financial institution and each other person that

25 is a creditor or other user of a consumer report

26 to establish reasonable policies and procedures
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1 for implementing the guidelines established pur2 suant to paragraph (1), to identify possible

3 risks to account holders or to the safety and

4 soundness of the institution or customers; and

5 ‘‘(C) prescribe regulations requiring each

6 financial institution and each other person that

7 is a creditor or other user of a consumer report

8 to notify the Federal Trade Commission (and

9 any other agency or person that such rule10 making agency determines appropriate) in any

11 case in which there has been, or is reasonably

12 believed to have been unauthorized access to

13 computerized or physical records which com14 promises the security, confidentiality, or integ15 rity of consumer information maintained by or

16 on behalf of that entity, except that such regu17 lations shall not apply to a good faith acquisi18 tion of information by an employee or agent of

19 such entity for a business purpose of that enti20 ty, if the information is not subject to further

21 unauthorized access.

22 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—Each agency required to

23 prescribe regulations under paragraph (1) shall con24 sult and coordinate with each other such agency so

25 that, to the extent possible, the regulations pre-
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1 scribed by each such entity are consistent and com2 parable with the regulations prescribed by each

3 other such agency.

4 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA.—In developing the guidelines

5 required by paragraph (1)(A), the agencies described

6 in paragraph (1) shall identify patterns, practices,

7 and specific forms of activity that indicate the pos8 sible existence of identity theft.

9 ‘‘(4) CONSISTENCY WITH VERIFICATION RE10 QUIREMENTS.—Policies and procedures established

11 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not be inconsistent

12 with, or duplicative of, the policies and procedures

13 required under section 5318(l) of title 31, United

14 States Code.

15 ‘‘(f) INVESTIGATION OF CHANGES OF ADDRESS.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal banking agen17 cies, the National Credit Union Administration, and

18 the Federal Trade Commission, in carrying out the

19 responsibilities of such agencies under subsection (e)

20 shall, with respect to the entities that are subject to

21 their respective enforcement authority under section

22 621, and in coordination as described in paragraph

23 (2), prescribe regulations applicable to card issuers

24 to ensure that, if any such card issuer receives a re25 quest for an additional or replacement card for an
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1 existing account not later than 30 days after the

2 card issuer has received notification of a change of

3 address for the same account, the card issuer will

4 follow reasonable policies and procedures that pro5 hibit, as appropriate, the card issuer from issuing

6 the additional or replacement card, unless the card

7 issuer—

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

9 at the former address of the cardholder and

10 provides to the cardholder a means of promptly

11 reporting incorrect address changes;

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

13 by such other means of communication as the

14 cardholder and the card issuer previously

15 agreed to; or

16 ‘‘(C) uses other means of assessing the va17 lidity of the change of address, in accordance

18 with reasonable policies and procedures estab19 lished by the card issuer in accordance with the

20 regulations prescribed under subsection (e).

21 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—Each agency required to

22 prescribe regulations under paragraph (1) shall con23 sult and coordinate with each other such agency so

24 that, to the extent possible, the regulations pre25 scribed by each such entity are consistent and com-
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1 parable with the regulations prescribed by each

2 other such agency.

3 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF CARD ISSUER.—For pur4 poses of this subsection, the term ‘card issuer’

5 means—

6 ‘‘(A) any person who issues a credit card,

7 or the agent of such person with respect to such

8 card; and

9 ‘‘(B) any person who issues a debit card.’’.

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

11 subsection (a) shall take effect 1 year after the date of

12 enactment of this Act.

13 SEC. 115. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT

14 PROHIBITION.

15 Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is

16 amended—

17 (1) in subsection (a)(7)—

18 (A) by striking ‘‘transfers’’ and inserting

19 ‘‘transfers, possesses,’’; and

20 (B) by striking ‘‘abet,’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘abet, or in connection with,’’;

22 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ‘‘trans23 fer’’ and inserting ‘‘transfer, possession,’’; and

24 (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘three

25 years’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’.
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1 SEC. 116. AUTHORITY TO TRUNCATE SOCIAL SECURITY

2 NUMBERS.

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

4 (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘except

5 that nothing’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘except that—

6 ‘‘(A) if the consumer to whom the file re7 lates requests that the first 5 digits of the so8 cial security number (or similar identification

9 number) of the consumer not be included in the

10 disclosure and the consumer reporting agency

11 has received appropriate proof of the identity of

12 the requester, the consumer reporting agency

13 shall so truncate such number in such disclo14 sure; and

15 ‘‘(B) nothing’’.

16 Subtitle B—Protection and Res17 toration of Identity Theft Victim

18 Credit History

19 SEC. 151. SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC20 TIMS.

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

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

23 at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(d) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS OF IDENTITY THEFT VIC25 TIMS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Com2 mission, in consultation with the Federal banking

3 agencies and the National Credit Union Administra4 tion, shall prescribe the form and content of a sum5 mary of the rights of consumers under this title with

6 respect to the procedures for remedying the effects

7 of fraud or identity theft involving credit, electronic

8 fund transfers, or accounts or transactions at or

9 with a financial institution.

10 ‘‘(2) SUMMARY OFRIGHTS AND CONTACT IN11 FORMATION.—If any consumer contacts a consumer

12 reporting agency and expresses a belief that the con13 sumer is a victim of fraud or identity theft involving

14 credit, an electronic fund transfer, or an account or

15 transaction at or with a financial institution, the

16 consumer reporting agency shall, in addition to any

17 other action that the agency may take, provide the

18 consumer with the model summary of rights pre19 pared by the Federal Trade Commission under para20 graph (1) and information on how to contact the

21 Commission to obtain more detailed information.

22 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO VICTIMS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of docu24 menting fraudulent transactions resulting from iden25 tity theft, not later than 20 days after the date of
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1 receipt of a request from a victim in accordance with

2 paragraph (3), and subject to verification of the

3 identity of the victim and the claim of identity theft

4 in accordance with paragraph (2), a business entity

5 that has provided credit to, provided for consider6 ation products, goods, or services to, accepted pay7 ment from, or otherwise entered into a commercial

8 transaction for consideration with, a person who has

9 allegedly made unauthorized use of the means of

10 identification of the victim, shall provide a copy of

11 application and business transaction records in the

12 control of the business entity, whether maintained

13 by the business entity or by another person on be14 half of the business entity, evidencing any trans15 action alleged to be a result of identity theft to—

16 ‘‘(A) the victim;

17 ‘‘(B) any Federal, State, or local governing

18 law enforcement agency or officer specified by

19 the victim in such a request; or

20 ‘‘(C) any law enforcement agency inves21 tigating the identity theft and authorized by the

22 victim to take receipt of records provided under

23 this subsection.

24 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION OF IDENTITY AND CLAIM.—

25 Before a business entity provides any information
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1 under paragraph (1), unless the business entity, at

2 its discretion, is otherwise able to verify the identity

3 of the victim making a request under paragraph (1),

4 the victim shall provide to the business entity—

5 ‘‘(A) as proof of positive identification of

6 the victim, at the election of the business

7 entity—

8 ‘‘(i) the presentation of a government9 issued identification card;

10 ‘‘(ii) personally identifying informa11 tion of the same type as was provided to

12 the business entity by the unauthorized

13 person; or

14 ‘‘(iii) personally identifying informa15 tion that the business entity typically re16 quests from new applicants or for new

17 transactions, at the time of the victim’s re18 quest for information, including any docu19 mentation described in clauses (i) and (ii);

20 and

21 ‘‘(B) as proof of a claim of identity theft,

22 at the election of the business entity—

23 ‘‘(i) a copy of a police report evidenc24 ing the claim of the victim of identity

25 theft; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) a properly completed—

2 ‘‘(I) copy of a standardized affi3 davit of identity theft developed and

4 made available by the Federal Trade

5 Commission; or

6 ‘‘(II) an affidavit of fact that is

7 acceptable to the business entity for

8 that purpose.

9 ‘‘(3) PROCEDURES.—The request of a victim

10 under paragraph (1) shall—

11 ‘‘(A) be in writing; and

12 ‘‘(B) be mailed to an address specified by

13 the business entity, if any.

14 ‘‘(4) NO CHARGE TO VICTIM.—Information re15 quired to be provided under paragraph (1) shall be

16 so provided without charge.

17 ‘‘(5) AUTHORITY TO DECLINE TO PROVIDE IN18 FORMATION.—A business entity may decline to pro19 vide information under paragraph (1) if, in the exer20 cise of good faith, the business entity determines

21 that—

22 ‘‘(A) this subsection does not require dis23 closure of the information;

24 ‘‘(B) the request for the information is

25 based on a misrepresentation of fact by the in-
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1 dividual requesting the information relevant to

2 the request for information; or

3 ‘‘(C) the information requested is Internet

4 navigational data or similar information about

5 a person’s visit to a website or online service.

6 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.—Except as

7 provided in section 621, sections 616 and 617 do not

8 apply to any violation of this subsection.

9 ‘‘(7) NO NEW RECORDKEEPING OBLIGATION.—

10 Nothing in this subsection creates an obligation on

11 the part of a business entity to obtain, retain, or

12 maintain information or records that are not other13 wise required to be obtained, retained, or maintained

14 in the ordinary course of its business or under other

15 applicable law.

16 ‘‘(8) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No provision of Fed18 eral or State law (except a law involving the

19 nondisclosure of information related to a pend20 ing Federal criminal investigation) prohibiting

21 the disclosure of financial information by a

22 business entity to third parties shall be used to

23 deny disclosure of information to the victim

24 under this subsection.
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1 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in

2 subparagraph (A), nothing in this subsection

3 permits a business entity to disclose informa4 tion, including information to law enforcement

5 under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph

6 (1), that the business entity is otherwise prohib7 ited from disclosing under any other applicable

8 provision of Federal or State law.

9 ‘‘(9) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—In any civil ac10 tion brought to enforce this subsection, it is an af11 firmative defense (which the defendant must estab12 lish by a preponderance of the evidence) for a busi13 ness entity to file an affidavit or answer stating

14 that—

15 ‘‘(A) the business entity has made a rea16 sonably diligent search of its available business

17 records; and

18 ‘‘(B) the records requested under this sub19 section do not exist or are not available.

20 ‘‘(10) DEFINITION OF VICTIM.—For purposes

21 of this subsection, the term ‘victim’ means a con22 sumer whose means of identification or financial in23 formation has been used or transferred (or has been

24 alleged to have been used or transferred) without the

25 authority of that consumer, with the intent to com-
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1 mit, or to aid or abet, identity theft or any other vio2 lation of law.’’.

3 (b) PUBLIC CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT IDENTITY

4 THEFT.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enact5 ment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall es6 tablish and implement a media and distribution campaign

7 to teach the public how to prevent identity theft. Such

8 campaign shall include existing Federal Trade Commis9 sion education materials, as well as radio, television, and

10 print public service announcements, video cassettes, inter11 active digital video discs (DVD’s) or compact audio discs

12 (CD’s), and Internet resources.

13 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 624(b)(3)

14 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(3),

15 regarding relation to State laws) is amended by striking

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

17 section 609’’.

18 SEC. 152. BLOCKING OF INFORMATION RESULTING FROM

19 IDENTITY THEFT.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act

21 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by inserting after

22 section 605A, as added by this Act, the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 605B. Block of information resulting from identity

2 theft

3 ‘‘(a) BLOCK.—Except as otherwise provided in this

4 section, a consumer reporting agency shall block the re5 porting of any information in the file of a consumer that

6 the consumer identifies as information that resulted from

7 an alleged identity theft, not later than 3 business days

8 after the date of receipt by such agency of—

9 ‘‘(1) appropriate proof of the identity of the

10 consumer;

11 ‘‘(2) a copy of an identity theft report; and

12 ‘‘(3) the identification of such information by

13 the consumer.

14 ‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION.—A consumer reporting agency

15 shall promptly notify the furnisher of information identi16 fied by the consumer under subsection (a)—

17 ‘‘(1) that the information may be a result of

18 identity theft;

19 ‘‘(2) that an identity theft report has been filed;

20 ‘‘(3) that a block has been requested under this

21 section; and

22 ‘‘(4) of the effective dates of the block.

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

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

25 agency may decline to block, or may rescind any

26 block, of information relating to a consumer under
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1 this section, if the consumer reporting agency rea2 sonably determines that—

3 ‘‘(A) the information was blocked in error

4 or a block was requested by the consumer in

5 error;

6 ‘‘(B) the information was blocked, or a

7 block was requested by the consumer, on the

8 basis of a material misrepresentation of fact

9 relevant to the request to block; or

10 ‘‘(C) the consumer obtained possession of

11 goods, services, or money as a result of the

12 blocked transaction or transactions.

13 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION TO CONSUMER.—If a block

14 of information is declined or rescinded under this

15 subsection, the affected consumer shall be notified

16 promptly, in the same manner as consumers are no17 tified of the reinsertion of information under section

18 611(a)(5)(B).

19 ‘‘(3) SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOCK.—For purposes

20 of this subsection, if a consumer reporting agency

21 rescinds a block, the presence of information in the

22 file of a consumer prior to the blocking of such in23 formation is not evidence of whether the consumer

24 knew or should have known that the consumer ob-
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1 tained possession of any goods, services, or money as

2 a result of the block.

3 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION FOR RESELLERS.—

4 ‘‘(1) NO RESELLER FILE.—This section shall

5 not apply to a consumer reporting agency, if the

6 consumer reporting agency—

7 ‘‘(A) is a reseller;

8 ‘‘(B) is not, at the time of the request of

9 the consumer under subsection (a), otherwise

10 furnishing or reselling a consumer report con11 cerning the information identified by the con12 sumer; and

13 ‘‘(C) informs the consumer, by any means,

14 that the consumer may report the identity theft

15 to the Federal Trade Commission to obtain con16 sumer information regarding identity theft.

17 ‘‘(2) RESELLER WITH FILE.—The sole obliga18 tion of the consumer reporting agency under this

19 section, with regard to any request of a consumer

20 under this section, shall be to block the consumer re21 port maintained by the consumer reporting agency

22 from any subsequent use, if—

23 ‘‘(A) the consumer, in accordance with the

24 provisions of subsection (a), identifies, to a con25 sumer reporting agency, information in the file
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1 of the consumer that resulted from identity

2 theft; and

3 ‘‘(B) the consumer reporting agency is a

4 reseller of the identified information.

5 ‘‘(3) NOTICE.—In carrying out its obligation

6 under paragraph (2), the reseller shall promptly pro7 vide a notice to the consumer of the decision to

8 block the file. Such notice shall contain the name,

9 address, and telephone number of each consumer re10 porting agency from which the consumer information

11 was obtained for resale.

12 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTION FOR VERIFICATION COMPANIES.—

13 The provisions of this section do not apply to a check serv14 ices company, acting as such, which issues authorizations

15 for the purpose of approving or processing negotiable in16 struments, electronic fund transfers, or similar methods

17 of payments, except that, beginning 3 business days after

18 receipt of information described in paragraphs (1) through

19 (3) of subsection (a), a check services company shall not

20 report to a national consumer reporting agency described

21 in section 603(p), any information identified in the subject

22 identity theft report as resulting from identity theft.

23 ‘‘(f) ACCESS TO BLOCKED INFORMATION BY LAW

24 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.—No provision of this section

25 shall be construed as requiring a consumer reporting agen-
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1 cy to prevent a Federal, State, or local law enforcement

2 agency from accessing blocked information in a consumer

3 file to which the agency could otherwise obtain access

4 under this title.’’.

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

6 for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.)

7 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section

8 605 the following new items:

‘‘605A. Identity theft prevention; fraud alerts and active duty alerts.

‘‘605B. Block of information resulting from identity theft.’’.

9 SEC. 153. COORDINATION OF IDENTITY THEFT COMPLAINT

10 INVESTIGATIONS.

11 Section 621 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

12 U.S.C. 1681s) is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing:

14 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT IN15 VESTIGATIONS.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each consumer reporting

17 agency described in section 603(p) shall develop and

18 maintain procedures for the referral to each other

19 such agency of any consumer complaint received by

20 the agency alleging identity theft, or requesting a

21 fraud alert under section 605A or a block under sec22 tion 605B.

23 ‘‘(2) MODEL FORM AND PROCEDURE FOR RE24 PORTING IDENTITY THEFT.—The Federal Trade
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1 Commission, in consultation with the Federal bank2 ing agencies and the National Credit Union Admin3 istration, shall develop a model form and model pro4 cedures to be used by consumers who are victims of

5 identity theft for contacting and informing creditors

6 and consumer reporting agencies of the fraud.

7 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORTS.—Each con8 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p)

9 shall submit an annual summary report to the Fed10 eral Trade Commission on consumer complaints re11 ceived by the agency on identity theft or fraud

12 alerts.’’.

13 SEC. 154. PREVENTION OF REPOLLUTION OF CONSUMER

14 REPORTS.

15 (a) PREVENTION OF REINSERTION OF ERRONEOUS

16 INFORMATION.—

17 (1) DUTIES OFFURNISHERS UPON NOTICE OF

18 IDENTITY THEFT-RELATED DISPUTES.—Section

19 623(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.

20 1681s–2(b)) is amended—

21 (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as

22 paragraph (3);

23 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the

24 following:
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1 ‘‘(2) DUTIES OFFURNISHERS UPON NOTICE OF

2 IDENTITY THEFT-RELATED DISPUTES.—A person

3 that furnishes information to any consumer report4 ing agency shall—

5 ‘‘(A) have in place reasonable procedures

6 to respond to any notification that it receives

7 from a consumer reporting agency under sec8 tion 605B relating to information resulting

9 from identity theft, to prevent that person from

10 refurnishing such blocked information; and

11 ‘‘(B) take the actions described in subpara12 graphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1), if

13 such person receives directly from a consumer,

14 an identity theft report or a properly completed

15 copy of a standardized affidavit of identity theft

16 developed and made available by the Federal

17 Trade Commission.’’; and

18 (C) in paragraph (3), as redesignated, by

19 striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘this

20 subsection’’.

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO

22 NOTICE OF IDENTITY THEFT DIRECTLY FROM CON23 SUMERS.—Section 623(b)(1) of the Fair Credit Re24 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(b)(1)) is

25 amended—
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1 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph

2 (A), by inserting ‘‘or as described in paragraph

3 (2)(B),’’ after ‘‘agency,’’;

4 (B) subparagraph (B), by inserting before

5 the semicolon the following: ‘‘, and by the con6 sumer, and other documentation reasonably

7 available to the person that is necessary to con8 duct a reasonable investigation’’; and

9 (C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting be10 fore the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘,

11 and to the consumer, if notice of the dispute

12 was received directly from the consumer, as de13 scribed in paragraph (2)(B)’’.

14 (b) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR TRANSFER OF DEBT

15 CAUSED BY IDENTITY THEFT.—Section 615 of the Fair

16 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m), as amended by

17 this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(g) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR TRANSFER OF DEBT

19 CAUSED BY IDENTITY THEFT.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No person shall sell, trans21 fer for consideration, or place for collection a debt

22 that such person has been notified under section

23 605B has resulted from identity theft.

24 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions of this

25 subsection shall apply to all persons collecting a debt
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1 described in paragraph (1) after the date of a notifi2 cation under paragraph (1).

3 ‘‘(3) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in

4 this subsection shall be construed to prohibit—

5 ‘‘(A) the repurchase of a debt in any case

6 in which the assignee of the debt requires such

7 repurchase because the debt has resulted from

8 identity theft;

9 ‘‘(B) the securitization of a debt; or

10 ‘‘(C) the transfer of debt as a result of a

11 merger, acquisition, purchase and assumption

12 transaction, or transfer of substantially all of

13 the assets of an entity.’’.

14 SEC. 155. NOTICE BY DEBT COLLECTORS WITH RESPECT TO

15 FRAUDULENT INFORMATION.

16 Section 615 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

17 U.S.C. 1681m), as amended by this Act, is amended by

18 adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(h) DEBT COLLECTOR COMMUNICATIONS CON20 CERNING IDENTITY THEFT.—If a person acting as a debt

21 collector (as that term is defined in title VIII) on behalf

22 of a third party that is a creditor or other user of a con23 sumer report is notified that any information relating to

24 a debt that the person is attempting to collect may be
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1 fraudulent or may be the result of identity theft, that per2 son shall—

3 ‘‘(1) notify the third party that the information

4 may be fraudulent or may be the result of identity

5 theft; and

6 ‘‘(2) upon request of the consumer to whom the

7 debt purportedly relates, provide to the consumer all

8 information to which the consumer would otherwise

9 be entitled if the consumer were not a victim of

10 identity theft, but wished to dispute the debt under

11 provisions of law applicable to that person.’’.

12 SEC. 156. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

13 Section 618 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

14 U.S.C. 1681p) is amended to read as follows:

15 ‘‘§ 618. Jurisdiction of courts; limitation of actions

16 ‘‘An action to enforce any liability created under this

17 title may be brought in any appropriate United States dis18 trict court, without regard to the amount in controversy,

19 or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, not later

20 than the earlier of—

21 ‘‘(1) 2 years after the date of discovery by the

22 plaintiff of the violation that is the basis for such li23 ability; or

24 ‘‘(2) 5 years after the date on which the viola25 tion that is the basis for such liability occurs.’’.
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1 TITLE II—IMPROVEMENTS IN

2 USE OF AND CONSUMER AC3 CESS TO CREDIT INFORMA4 TION

5 SEC. 211. FREE CREDIT REPORTS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 612 of the Fair Credit

7 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j) is amended—

8 (1) by redesignating subsection (a) as sub9 section (f), and transferring it to the end of the sec10 tion;

11 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) the fol12 lowing:

13 ‘‘(a) FREE ANNUAL DISCLOSURE.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting

15 agency described in section 603(p) shall make all

16 disclosures pursuant to section 609 once during any

17 12-month period upon request of the consumer and

18 without charge to the consumer, only if the request

19 is made by mail or through an Internet website

20 using the centralized system and the standardized

21 form established for such requests in accordance

22 with section 211(c) of the National Consumer Credit

23 Reporting System Improvement Act of 2003.

24 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—A consumer reporting agency

25 shall provide a consumer report under paragraph (1)
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1 not later than 15 days after the date on which the

2 request is received under paragraph (1).

3 ‘‘(3) REINVESTIGATIONS.—Notwithstanding the

4 time periods specified in section 611(a)(1), a re5 investigation under that section by a consumer re6 porting agency upon a request of a consumer that

7 is made after receiving a consumer report under this

8 subsection shall be completed not later than 45 days

9 after the date on which the request is received.’’;

10 (3) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub11 section (e);

12 (4) by inserting before subsection (e), as redes13 ignated, the following:

14 ‘‘(d) FREE DISCLOSURES IN CONNECTION WITH

15 FRAUD ALERTS.—Upon the request of a consumer, a con16 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) shall

17 make all disclosures pursuant to section 609 without

18 charge to the consumer, as provided in subsections (a)(2)

19 and (b)(3) of section 605A, as applicable.’’;

20 (5) in subsection (e), as redesignated, by strik21 ing ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (f)’’;

22 and

23 (6) in subsection (f), as redesignated, by strik24 ing ‘‘Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and

25 (d), a’’ and inserting ‘‘In the case of a request from
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1 a consumer other than a request that is covered by

2 any of subsections (a) through (d), a’’.

3 (b) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS TO OBTAIN AND DISPUTE

4 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS AND TO OBTAIN

5 CREDIT SCORES.—Section 609(c) of the Fair Credit Re6 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is amended to read as fol7 lows:

8 ‘‘(c) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS TO OBTAIN AND DISPUTE

9 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS AND TO OBTAIN

10 CREDIT SCORES.—

11 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION SUMMARY OFRIGHTS RE12 QUIRED.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade

14 Commission shall prepare a model summary of

15 the rights of consumers under this title.

16 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OFSUMMARY.—The sum17 mary of rights prepared under subparagraph

18 (A) shall include a description of—

19 ‘‘(i) the right of a consumer to obtain

20 a copy of a consumer report under sub21 section (a) from each consumer reporting

22 agency;

23 ‘‘(ii) the frequency and circumstances

24 under which a consumer is entitled to re-
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1 ceive a consumer report without charge

2 under section 612;

3 ‘‘(iii) the right of a consumer to dis4 pute information in the file of the con5 sumer under section 611;

6 ‘‘(iv) the right of a consumer to ob7 tain a credit score from a consumer report8 ing agency, and a description of how to ob9 tain a credit score; and

10 ‘‘(v) the method by which a consumer

11 can contact, and obtain a consumer report

12 from, a consumer reporting agency without

13 charge, as provided in the regulations of

14 the Federal Trade Commission prescribed

15 under section 211(c) of the National Con16 sumer Credit Reporting System Improve17 ment Act of 2003.

18 ‘‘(C) AVAILABILITY OFSUMMARY OF

19 RIGHTS.—The Federal Trade Commission

20 shall—

21 ‘‘(i) actively publicize the availability

22 of the summary of rights prepared under

23 this paragraph;
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1 ‘‘(ii) conspicuously post on its Inter2 net website the availability of such sum3 mary of rights; and

4 ‘‘(iii) promptly make such summary of

5 rights available to consumers, on request.

6 ‘‘(2) SUMMARY OFRIGHTS REQUIRED TO BE IN7 CLUDED WITH AGENCY DISCLOSURES.—A consumer

8 reporting agency shall provide to a consumer, with

9 each written disclosure by the agency to the con10 sumer under this section—

11 ‘‘(A) the summary of rights prepared by

12 the Federal Trade Commission under para13 graph (1);

14 ‘‘(B) in the case of a consumer reporting

15 agency described in section 603(p), a toll-free

16 telephone number established by the agency, at

17 which personnel are accessible to consumers

18 during normal business hours;

19 ‘‘(C) a list of all Federal agencies respon20 sible for enforcing any provision of this title,

21 and the address and any appropriate phone

22 number of each such agency, in a form that will

23 assist the consumer in selecting the appropriate

24 agency;
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1 ‘‘(D) a statement that the consumer may

2 have additional rights under State law, and that

3 the consumer may wish to contact a State or

4 local consumer protection agency or a State at5 torney general (or the equivalent thereof) to

6 learn of those rights; and

7 ‘‘(E) a statement that a consumer report8 ing agency is not required to remove accurate

9 derogatory information from the file of a con10 sumer, unless the information is outdated under

11 section 605 or cannot be verified.’’.

12 (c) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commis14 sion shall prescribe regulations applicable to con15 sumer reporting agencies described in section 603(p)

16 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require the es17 tablishment of—

18 (A) a centralized source, through which

19 consumers may obtain a consumer report from

20 each consumer reporting agency described in

21 that section 603(p) using a single request and

22 without charge to the consumer, as provided in

23 section 612(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

24 (as amended by this Act);
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1 (B) a standardized form for a consumer to

2 make such a request for a consumer report by

3 mail or through an Internet website; and

4 (C) streamlined methods by which such a

5 consumer reporting agency shall provide such

6 consumer reports, after consideration of—

7 (i) the significant demands that may

8 be placed on consumer reporting agencies

9 in providing such consumer reports;

10 (ii) appropriate means to ensure that

11 consumer reporting agencies can satisfac12 torily meet those demands, including the

13 efficacy of a system of staggering the

14 availability to consumers of such consumer

15 reports using a quarterly method based on

16 the birth month of the consumer; and

17 (iii) the ease by which consumers

18 should be able to contact consumer report19 ing agencies with respect to access to such

20 consumer reports.

21 (2) TIMING.—Regulations required by this sub22 section shall—

23 (A) be issued in final form not later than

24 6 months after the date of enactment of this

25 Act; and
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1 (B) become effective not later than 6

2 months after the date on which they are issued

3 in final form.

4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

5 subsections (a) and (b) shall become effective on the effec6 tive date of the regulations prescribed by the Federal

7 Trade Commission in accordance with subsection (c).

8 SEC. 212. CREDIT SCORES.

9 (a) DUTIES OF CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES

10 TO DISCLOSE CREDIT SCORES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 609(a) of the Fair

12 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)) is

13 amended by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘(6) In connection with an application for an

15 extension of credit for a consumer purpose that is to

16 be secured by a dwelling—

17 ‘‘(A) the current, or most recent, credit

18 score of the consumer that was previously cal19 culated by the agency;

20 ‘‘(B) the range of possible credit scores

21 under the model used;

22 ‘‘(C) the key factors, if any, not to exceed

23 4, that adversely affected the credit score of the

24 consumer in the model used;
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1 ‘‘(D) the date on which the credit score

2 was created; and

3 ‘‘(E) the name of the person or entity that

4 provided the credit score or the credit file on

5 the basis of which the credit score was cre6 ated.’’.

7 (2) LIMITATIONS ON REQUIRED PROVISION OF

8 CREDIT SCORE.—Section 609 of the Fair Credit Re9 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g), as amended by this

10 Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON REQUIRED PROVISION OF

12 CREDIT SCORE.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a)(6) may not

14 be construed—

15 ‘‘(A) to compel a consumer reporting agen16 cy to develop or disclose a credit score if the

17 agency does not, in the ordinary course of its

18 business—

19 ‘‘(i) distribute scores that are used in

20 connection with extensions of credit se21 cured by residential real property; or

22 ‘‘(ii) develop credit scores that assist

23 creditors in understanding the general

24 credit behavior of the consumer and pre25 dicting future credit behavior;
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1 ‘‘(B) to require a consumer reporting

2 agency that distributes credit scores developed

3 by another person or entity to provide a further

4 explanation of those scores, or to process a dis5 pute arising pursuant to section 611(a), except

6 that the consumer reporting agency shall be re7 quired to provide to the consumer the name and

8 information for contacting the person or entity

9 that developed the score;

10 ‘‘(C) to require a consumer reporting agen11 cy to maintain credit scores in its files; or

12 ‘‘(D) to compel disclosure of a credit score,

13 except upon specific request of the consumer,

14 except that if a consumer requests the credit

15 file and not the credit score, then the consumer

16 shall be provided with the credit file and a

17 statement that the consumer may request and

18 obtain a credit score.

19 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OFSCORING MODEL.—In com20 plying with subsection (a)(6) and this subsection, a

21 consumer reporting agency shall supply to the

22 consumer—

23 ‘‘(A) a credit score that is derived from a

24 credit scoring model that is widely distributed

25 to users of credit scores by that consumer re-
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1 porting agency in connection with any extension

2 of credit secured by a dwelling; or

3 ‘‘(B) a credit score that assists the con4 sumer in understanding the credit scoring as5 sessment of the credit behavior of the consumer

6 and predictions about future credit behavior.’’.

7 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

8 609(a)(1)(B) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

9 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)(B)), as so designated by section

10 116, is amended by inserting before the period ‘‘,

11 other than as provided in paragraph (6)’’.

12 (b) DUTIES OF USERS OF CREDIT SCORES.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 615 of the Fair

14 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m), as amend15 ed by this Act, is amended by adding at the end the

16 following:

17 ‘‘(i) DUTIES OF USERS OF CREDIT SCORES.—

18 ‘‘(1) DISCLOSURES.—Any person that makes or

19 arranges extensions of credit for consumer purposes

20 that are to be secured by a dwelling and that uses

21 credit scores for that purpose, shall be required to

22 provide to the consumer to whom the credit score re23 lates, as soon as is reasonably practicable after such

24 use—
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1 ‘‘(A) a copy of the information described in

2 section 609(a)(6) that was obtained from a con3 sumer reporting agency or that was developed

4 and used by that user of the credit score infor5 mation; or

6 ‘‘(B) if the user of the credit score infor7 mation obtained such information from a third

8 party that developed such information (other

9 than a consumer reporting agency or the user

10 itself), only—

11 ‘‘(i) a copy of the information de12 scribed in section 609(a)(6) provided to

13 the user by the person or entity that devel14 oped the credit score; and

15 ‘‘(ii) a notice that generally describes

16 credit scores, their use, and the sources

17 and kinds of data used to generate credit

18 scores.

19 ‘‘(2) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—This sub20 section may not be construed to require the user of

21 a credit score described in paragraph (1)—

22 ‘‘(A) to explain to the consumer the infor23 mation provided pursuant to section 609(a)(6),

24 unless that information was developed by the

25 user;
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1 ‘‘(B) to disclose any information other

2 than a credit score or the key factors required

3 to be disclosed under section 609(a)(6)(C);

4 ‘‘(C) to disclose any credit score or related

5 information obtained by the user after a trans6 action occurs; or

7 ‘‘(D) to provide more than 1 disclosure

8 under this subsection to any 1 consumer per

9 credit transaction.

10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise pro11 vided in this subsection, the obligation of a user of

12 a credit score under this subsection shall be limited

13 solely to providing a copy of the information that

14 was received from the consumer reporting agency or

15 other person. A user of a credit score has no liability

16 under this subsection for the content of credit score

17 information received from a consumer reporting

18 agency or for the omission of any information within

19 the report provided by the consumer reporting agen20 cy.’’.

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 615

22 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m)

23 is amended in the section heading, by adding at the

24 end the following: ‘‘and credit scores’’.
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1 (c) CONTRACTUAL LIABILITY.—Section 616 of the

2 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681n) is amended

3 by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(d) USE OF CREDIT SCORES.—Any provision of any

5 contract that prohibits the disclosure of a credit score by

6 a consumer reporting agency or a person who makes or

7 arranges extensions of credit to the consumer to whom

8 the credit score relates is void. A user of a credit score

9 shall not have liability under any such contractual provi10 sion for disclosure of a credit score.’’.

11 (d) RELATION TO STATE LAWS.—Section 624(b)(1)

12 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(1),

13 regarding relation to State laws) is amended—

14 (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘or’’ at

15 the end; and

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

17 ‘‘(G) subsections (a)(6) and (f) of section

18 609, relating to the disclosure of credit scores

19 by consumer reporting agencies in connection

20 with an application for an extension of credit

21 that is to be secured by a dwelling;

22 ‘‘(H) section 615(i), relating to the duties

23 of users of credit scores to disclose credit score

24 information to consumers in connection with an
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1 application for an extension of credit that is to

2 be secured by a dwelling; or’’.

3 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

4 this section shall become effective 180 days after the date

5 of enactment of this Act.

6 SEC. 213. ENHANCED DISCLOSURE OF THE MEANS AVAIL7 ABLE TO OPT OUT OF PRESCREENED LISTS.

8 (a) NOTICE AND RESPONSE FORMAT FOR USERS OF

9 REPORTS.—Section 615(d)(2) of the Fair Credit Report10 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m(d)(2)) is amended to read as

11 follows:

12 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OFADDRESS AND TELE13 PHONE NUMBER; FORMAT.—A statement under

14 paragraph (1) shall—

15 ‘‘(A) include the address and toll-free tele16 phone number of the appropriate notification

17 system established under section 604(e); and

18 ‘‘(B) be presented in such format and in

19 such type size and manner as is established by

20 the Federal Trade Commission, by rule, in con21 sultation with the Federal banking agencies and

22 the National Credit Union Administration.’’.

23 (b) RULEMAKING SCHEDULE.—Regulations required

24 by section 615(d)(2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as
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1 amended by this section, shall be issued in final form not

2 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

3 (c) DURATION OF ELECTIONS.—Section 604(e) of

4 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(e)) is

5 amended in each of paragraphs (3)(A) and (4)(B)(i)), by

6 striking ‘‘2-year period’’ each place that term appears and

7 inserting ‘‘7-year period’’.

8 (d) PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.—The Federal

9 Trade Commission shall actively publicize and conspicu10 ously post on its website any address and the toll-free tele11 phone number established as part of a notification system

12 for opting out of prescreening under section 604(e), and

13 otherwise take measures to increase public awareness re14 garding the availability of the right to opt out of

15 prescreening.

16 SEC. 214. AFFILIATE SHARING.

17 (a) LIMITATION.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

18 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended—

19 (1) by redesignating section 624 (regarding re20 lation to State laws), as so designated by section

21 2413(b) of the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform

22 Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 3009–447), as section 625;

23 (2) by redesignating section 624 (regarding dis24 closures to FBI for counterintelligence purposes), as

25 added by section 601(a) of the Intelligence Author-
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1 ization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104–

2 93; 109 Stat. 974) (15 U.S.C. 1681u)), as section

3 626; and

4 (3) by inserting after section 623 the following:

5 ‘‘SEC. 624. AFFILIATE SHARING.

6 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL RULE FOR SOLICITATION FOR PUR7 POSES OF MARKETING.—

8 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Any person that receives from

9 another person related to it by common ownership or

10 affiliated by corporate control a communication of

11 information that would be a consumer report, except

12 for clauses (i) through (iii) of section 603(d)(2)(A),

13 may not use the information to make a solicitation

14 for marketing purposes to a consumer about its

15 products or services, unless—

16 ‘‘(A) it is clearly and conspicuously dis17 closed to the consumer that the information

18 may be communicated among such persons for

19 purposes of making such solicitations to the

20 consumer; and

21 ‘‘(B) the consumer is provided an oppor22 tunity and a simple method to prohibit the

23 making of such solicitations to the consumer by

24 such person.

25 ‘‘(2) CONSUMER CHOICE.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The notice required

2 under paragraph (1) shall allow the consumer

3 the opportunity to prohibit all such solicita4 tions, and may allow the consumer to choose

5 from different options when electing to prohibit

6 the sending of such solicitations, including op7 tions regarding the types of entities and infor8 mation covered, and which methods of deliv9 ering solicitations the consumer elects to pro10 hibit.

11 ‘‘(B) FORMAT.—Notwithstanding subpara12 graph (A), the notice required under paragraph

13 (1) must be clear, conspicuous, and concise, and

14 any method provided under paragraph (1)(B)

15 must be simple. The regulations prescribed to

16 implement this section shall provide specific

17 guidance regarding how to comply with such

18 standards.

19 ‘‘(3) DURATION.—The election of a consumer

20 pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) to prohibit the send21 ing of solicitations shall be effective permanently, be22 ginning on the date on which the person receives the

23 election of the consumer, unless the consumer re24 quests that such election be revoked.
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1 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sec2 tion, the term ‘pre-existing business relationship’

3 means a relationship between a person and a con4 sumer, based on—

5 ‘‘(A) the purchase, rental, or lease by the

6 consumer of that person’s goods or services, or

7 a financial transaction between the consumer

8 and that person during the 18-month period

9 immediately preceding the date on which the

10 consumer receives the notice required under

11 this section; or

12 ‘‘(B) an inquiry or application by the con13 sumer regarding a product or service offered by

14 that person, during the 3-month period imme15 diately preceding the date on which the con16 sumer receives the notice required under this

17 section.

18 ‘‘(5) SCOPE.—This section shall not apply to a

19 person—

20 ‘‘(A) using information to make a solicita21 tion for marketing purposes to a consumer with

22 whom the person has a pre-existing business re23 lationship;

24 ‘‘(B) using information to perform services

25 on behalf of another person related by common
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1 ownership or affiliated by corporate control, ex2 cept that this subparagraph shall not permit a

3 person to send solicitations on behalf of another

4 person if such other person would not be per5 mitted to send the solicitation on its own behalf

6 as a result of the election of the consumer to

7 prohibit solicitations under paragraph (1)(B);

8 ‘‘(C) using information in direct response

9 to a communication initiated by the consumer

10 in which the consumer has requested informa11 tion about a product or service; or

12 ‘‘(D) using information to directly respond

13 to solicitations authorized or requested by the

14 consumer.

15 ‘‘(b) NOTICE FOR OTHER PURPOSES PERMIS16 SIBLE.—A notice or other disclosure that is equivalent to

17 the notice required by subsection (a), and that is provided

18 by a person described in subsection (a) to a consumer to19 gether with disclosures required by any other provision of

20 law shall satisfy the requirements of subsection (a).’’.

21 (b) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal banking agen23 cies, the National Credit Union Administration, and

24 the Federal Trade Commission shall, with respect to

25 the entities that are subject to their respective en-
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1 forcement authority under section 621 of the Fair

2 Credit Reporting Act, and in coordination as de3 scribed in paragraph (2), prescribe regulations to

4 implement section 624 of the Fair Credit Reporting

5 Act, as added by this section.

6 (2) COORDINATION.—Each agency required to

7 prescribe regulations under paragraph (1) shall con8 sult and coordinate with each other such agency so

9 that, to the extent possible, the regulations pre10 scribed by each such entity are consistent and com11 parable with the regulations prescribed by each

12 other such agency.

13 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In promulgating regu14 lations under this subsection, the Federal Trade

15 Commission shall—

16 (A) ensure that affiliate sharing notifica17 tion methods provide a simple means for con18 sumers to make determinations and choices

19 under section 624 of the Fair Credit Reporting

20 Act, as added by this section; and

21 (B) consider the affiliate sharing notifica22 tion practices employed on the date of enact23 ment of this Act by persons that will be subject

24 to that section 624.
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1 (4) TIMING.—Regulations required by this sub2 section shall—

3 (A) be issued in final form not later than

4 6 months after the date of enactment of this

5 Act; and

6 (B) become effective not later than 3

7 months after the date on which they are issued

8 in final form.

9 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

10 603(d)(2)(A) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.

11 1681a(d)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘subject to sec12 tion 624,’’ after ‘‘(A)’’.

13 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The Fair Credit Re14 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended in the

15 table of sections, by striking the items following the item

16 relating to section 623 and inserting the following:

‘‘624. Affiliate sharing.

‘‘625. Relation to State laws.

‘‘626. Disclosures to FBI for counterintelligence purposes.’’.

17 (e) STUDIES OF INFORMATION SHARING PRAC18 TICES.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal banking agen20 cies, the National Credit Union Administration, and

21 the Federal Trade Commission shall jointly conduct

22 regular studies of the consumer information sharing

23 practices by financial institutions and other persons
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1 that are creditors or users of consumer reports with

2 their affiliates.

3 (2) MATTERS FOR STUDY.—In conducting the

4 studies required by paragraph (1), the agencies de5 scribed in paragraph (1) shall—

6 (A) identify—

7 (i) the purposes for which financial in8 stitutions and other creditors and users of

9 consumer reports share consumer informa10 tion;

11 (ii) the types of information shared by

12 such entities with their affiliates;

13 (iii) the number of choices provided to

14 consumers with respect to the control of

15 such sharing, and the degree to and man16 ner in which consumers exercise such

17 choices, if at all; and

18 (iv) whether such entities share or

19 may share personally identifiable trans20 action or experience information with affili21 ates for purposes—

22 (I) that are related to employ23 ment or hiring, including whether the

24 person that is the subject of such in25 formation is given notice of such shar-
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1 ing, and the specific uses of such

2 shared information; or

3 (II) of general publication of

4 such information; and

5 (B) specifically examine the information

6 sharing practices that financial institutions and

7 other creditors and users of consumer reports

8 and their affiliates employ for the purpose of

9 making underwriting decisions or credit evalua10 tions of consumers.

11 (3) REPORTS.—

12 (A) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 3

13 years after the date of enactment of this Act,

14 the Federal banking agencies, the National

15 Credit Union Administration, and the Federal

16 Trade Commission shall jointly submit a report

17 to the Congress on the results of the initial

18 study conducted in accordance with this sub19 section, together with any recommendations for

20 legislative or regulatory action.

21 (B) FOLLOWUP REPORTS.—The Federal

22 banking agencies, the National Credit Union

23 Administration, and the Federal Trade Com24 mission shall, not less frequently than once

25 every 3 years following the date of submission
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1 of the initial report under subparagraph (A),

2 jointly submit a report to the Congress that, to3 gether with any recommendations for legislative

4 or regulatory action—

5 (i) documents any changes in the

6 areas of study referred to in paragraph

7 (2)(A) occurring since the date of submis8 sion of the previous report;

9 (ii) identifies any changes in the prac10 tices of financial institutions and other

11 creditors and users of consumer reports in

12 sharing consumer information with their

13 affiliates for the purpose of making under14 writing decisions or credit evaluations of

15 consumers occurring since the date of sub16 mission of the previous report; and

17 (iii) examines the effects that changes

18 described in clause (ii) have had, if any, on

19 the degree to which such affiliate sharing

20 practices reduce the need for financial in21 stitutions, creditors, and other users of

22 consumer reports to rely on credit reports

23 for such decisions.

24 (f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
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1 (1) the terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer report’’,

2 ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’, ‘‘creditor’’, ‘‘Federal

3 banking agencies’’, and ‘‘financial institution’’, have

4 the same meanings as in section 603 of the Fair

5 Credit Reporting Act, as amended by this Act; and

6 (2) the term ‘‘affiliates’’ means persons that are

7 related by common ownership or affiliated by cor8 porate control.

9 SEC. 215. STUDY OF EFFECTS OF CREDIT SCORES AND

10 CREDIT-BASED INSURANCE SCORES ON

11 AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF FI12 NANCIAL PRODUCTS.

13 (a) DEFINED TERM.—As used in this section, the

14 term ‘‘credit score’’ means a numerical value or a cat15 egorization derived from a statistical tool or modeling sys16 tem used to predict the likelihood of certain credit or in17 surance behaviors, including default.

18 (b) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Federal Trade Commis19 sion shall conduct a study of—

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

21 credit-based insurance scores on the availability and

22 affordability of financial products and services, in23 cluding credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and

24 property and casualty insurance;
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1 (2) the degree of correlation between the factors

2 considered by credit score systems and the quantifi3 able risks and actual losses experienced by busi4 nesses, including the extent to which each of the fac5 tors considered or otherwise taken into account by

6 such systems correlated to risk or loss;

7 (3) the extent to which the use of credit scoring

8 models, credit scores and credit-based insurance

9 scores benefit or negatively impact persons based on

10 geography, income, ethnicity, race, color, religion,

11 national origin, age, sex, marital status, or creed;

12 and

13 (4) the extent to which credit scoring systems

14 are used by businesses, the factors considered by

15 such systems, and the effects of variables which are

16 not considered by such systems.

17 (c) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—The Federal Trade

18 Commission shall seek public input about the prescribed

19 methodology and research design of the study required by

20 subsection (b).

21 (d) REPORT.—

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

23 month period beginning on the date of enactment of

24 this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall sub25 mit a detailed report on the study conducted under
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1 this section to the Committee on Financial Services

2 of the House of Representatives and the Committee

3 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Sen4 ate.

5 (2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under

6 paragraph (1) shall include—

7 (A) the findings and conclusions of the

8 Commission;

9 (B) recommendations to address specific

10 areas of concern that were identified in the

11 study; and

12 (C) recommendations for legislative or ad13 ministrative action that the Commission may

14 determine to be necessary to ensure that credit

15 and credit-based insurances score are used ap16 propriately and fairly.

17 SEC. 216. DISPOSAL OF CONSUMER REPORT INFORMATION

18 AND RECORDS.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act

20 (15 U.S.C. 1681m) is amended by adding at the end the

21 following:

22 ‘‘§ 627. Disposal of records

23 ‘‘(a) REGULATIONS.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after

25 the date of enactment of this section, the Federal
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1 Trade Commission shall issue final regulations re2 quiring any person that maintains or otherwise pos3 sesses consumer information or any compilation of

4 consumer information derived from consumer re5 ports for a business purpose to properly dispose of

6 any such information or compilation.

7 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION AUTHORITY.—In issuing regu8 lations under this section, the Federal Trade Com9 mission may exempt any person or class of persons

10 from application of those regulations, as the Com11 mission deems appropriate to carry out the purpose

12 of this section.

13 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion may be construed to alter or affect any requirement

15 imposed under any other provision of law to maintain any

16 record.’’.

17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

18 for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et

19 seq.), as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at

20 the end the following:

‘‘627. Disposal of records.’’.
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1 TITLE III—ENHANCING THE AC2 CURACY OF CONSUMER RE3 PORT INFORMATION

4 SEC. 311. RISK-BASED PRICING NOTICE.

5 (a) DUTIES OF USERS.—Section 615 of the Fair

6 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681m), as amended by

7 this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘(j) DUTIES OF USERS IN CERTAIN CREDIT TRANS9 ACTIONS.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to rules prescribed

11 as provided in paragraph (5), if any person uses a

12 consumer report in connection with a grant, exten13 sion, or other provision of credit on material terms

14 that are materially less favorable than the most fa15 vorable terms available to a substantial proportion of

16 consumers from or through that person, based in

17 whole or in part on a consumer report, the person

18 shall provide a notice to the consumer in the form

19 and manner required by regulations prescribed in

20 accordance with this subsection.

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—No notice shall be required

22 from a person under this subsection if—

23 ‘‘(A) the consumer applied for specific ma24 terial terms and was granted those terms, un25 less those terms were initially specified by the
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1 person after the transaction was initiated by

2 the consumer and after the person obtained a

3 consumer report; or

4 ‘‘(B) the person has provided or will pro5 vide a notice to the consumer under subsection

6 (a) in connection with the transaction.

7 ‘‘(3) OTHER NOTICE NOT SUFFICIENT.—A per8 son that is required to provide a notice under sub9 section (a) cannot meet that requirement by pro10 viding a notice under this subsection.

11 ‘‘(4) CONTENT AND DELIVERY OFNOTICE.—A

12 notice under this subsection shall include, at a

13 minimum—

14 ‘‘(A) a statement informing the consumer

15 that the terms offered to the consumer were set

16 based on information from a consumer report;

17 ‘‘(B) identification of the consumer report18 ing agency that furnished that report;

19 ‘‘(C) a statement informing the consumer

20 that the consumer may obtain a copy of a con21 sumer report from that consumer reporting

22 agency without charge; and

23 ‘‘(D) the contact information specified by

24 that consumer reporting agency for obtaining

25 such consumer reports (including a toll-free
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1 telephone number established by the agency in

2 the case of a consumer reporting agency de3 scribed in section 603(p)).

4 ‘‘(5) RULEMAKING.—

5 ‘‘(A) RULES REQUIRED.—The Federal

6 Trade Commission and the Board of Governors

7 of the Federal Reserve System shall jointly pre8 scribe rules, in accordance with section 553 of

9 title 5, United States Code, to carry out this

10 subsection.

11 ‘‘(B) CONTENT.—Rules required by sub12 paragraph (A) shall address, but are not limited

13 to—

14 ‘‘(i) the form, content, time, and man15 ner of delivery of any notice under this

16 subsection;

17 ‘‘(ii) clarification of the meaning of

18 terms used in this subsection, including

19 what credit terms are material, and when

20 credit terms are materially less favorable;

21 ‘‘(iii) exceptions to the notice require22 ment under this subsection for classes of

23 persons or transactions regarding which

24 the agencies determine that notice would

25 not significantly benefit consumers; and
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1 ‘‘(iv) a model notice that may be used

2 to comply with this subsection.’’.

3 (b) RELATION TO STATE LAWS.—Section 625(b)(1)

4 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681t(b)(1),

5 regarding relation to State laws), as so designated and

6 amended by this Act, is amended by adding at the end

7 the following:

8 ‘‘(I) section 615(j), relating to the duties

9 of users of consumer reports to provide notice

10 with respect to terms in certain credit trans11 actions;’’.

12 SEC. 312. PROCEDURES TO ENHANCE THE ACCURACY AND

13 COMPLETENESS OF INFORMATION FUR14 NISHED TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN15 CIES.

16 (a) ACCURACY GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS.—

17 Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.

18 15 U.S.C. 1681s–2) is amended by adding at the end the

19 following:

20 ‘‘(e) ACCURACY GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS RE21 QUIRED.—

22 ‘‘(1) GUIDELINES.—The Federal banking agen23 cies, the National Credit Union Administration, and

24 the Federal Trade Commission shall, with respect to

25 the entities that are subject to their respective en-
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1 forcement authority under section 621, and in co2 ordination as described in paragraph (2)—

3 ‘‘(A) establish and maintain guidelines for

4 use by each person that furnishes information

5 to a consumer reporting agency regarding the

6 accuracy and completeness of the information

7 relating to consumers that such entities furnish

8 to consumer reporting agencies, and update

9 such guidelines as often as necessary; and

10 ‘‘(B) prescribe regulations requiring each

11 person that furnishes information to a con12 sumer reporting agency to establish reasonable

13 policies and procedures for implementing the

14 guidelines established pursuant to subpara15 graph (A).

16 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—Each agency required to

17 prescribe regulations under paragraph (1) shall con18 sult and coordinate with each other such agency so

19 that, to the extent possible, the regulations pre20 scribed by each such entity are consistent and com21 parable with the regulations prescribed by each

22 other such agency.

23 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA.—In developing the guidelines

24 required by paragraph (1)(A), the agencies described

25 in paragraph (1) shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) identify patterns, practices, and spe2 cific forms of activity that can compromise the

3 accuracy and completeness of information fur4 nished to consumer reporting agencies;

5 ‘‘(B) review the methods (including techno6 logical means) used to furnish information re7 lating to consumers to consumer reporting

8 agencies;

9 ‘‘(C) determine whether persons that fur10 nish information to consumer reporting agen11 cies maintain and enforce policies to provide

12 complete and accurate information to consumer

13 reporting agencies; and

14 ‘‘(D) examine the policies and processes

15 that persons that furnish information to con16 sumer reporting agencies employ to conduct re17 investigations and correct inaccurate informa18 tion relating to consumers that has been fur19 nished to consumer reporting agencies.’’.

20 (b) FURNISHER LIABILITY EXCEPTION.—Section

21 623(a)(5) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.

22 1681s–2(a)(5)) is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘A person’’ and inserting the

24 following:

25 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A person’’;
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1 (2) by inserting ‘‘date of delinquency on the ac2 count, which shall be the’’ before ‘‘month’’;

3 (3) by inserting ‘‘on the account’’ before ‘‘that

4 immediately preceded’’; and

5 (4) by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(B) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—For pur7 poses of this paragraph only, and provided that

8 the consumer does not dispute the information,

9 a person that furnishes information on a delin10 quent account that is placed for collection,

11 charged for profit or loss, or subjected to any

12 similar action, complies with this paragraph,

13 if—

14 ‘‘(i) the person reports the same date

15 of delinquency as that provided by the

16 creditor to which the account was owed at

17 the time at which the commencement of

18 the delinquency occurred, if the creditor

19 previously reported that date of delin20 quency to a consumer reporting agency;

21 ‘‘(ii) the creditor did not previously

22 report the date of delinquency to a con23 sumer reporting agency, and the person es24 tablishes and follows reasonable procedures

25 to obtain the date of delinquency from the
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1 creditor or another reliable source and re2 ports that date as the date of delinquency;

3 or

4 ‘‘(iii) the creditor did not previously

5 report the date of delinquency to a con6 sumer reporting agency and the date of de7 linquency cannot be reasonably obtained as

8 provided in clause (ii), the person estab9 lishes and follows reasonable procedures to

10 ensure the date reported as the date of de11 linquency precedes the date on which the

12 account is placed for collection, charged to

13 profit or loss, or subjected to any similar

14 action, and reports such date to the credit

15 reporting agency.’’.

16 (c) LIABILITY AND ENFORCEMENT.—

17 (1) CIVIL LIABILITY.—Section 623 of the Fair

18 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2) is

19 amended by striking subsections (c) and (d) and in20 serting the following:

21 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.—Except as provided

22 in section 621(c)(1)(B), sections 616 and 617 do not apply

23 to any violation of—

24 ‘‘(1) subsection (a) of this section;
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1 ‘‘(2) subsection (e) of this section, except that

2 nothing in this paragraph shall limit, expand, or oth3 erwise affect liability under section 616 or 617, as

4 applicable, for violations of subsection (b) of this

5 section;

6 ‘‘(3) subsection (e) or (f) of section 615; or

7 ‘‘(4) subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(2) of

8 this section that is based on the development of pro9 cedures required by that subparagraph, except that

10 refurnishing information otherwise in violation of

11 subsection (b) shall be subject to liability under sec12 tions 616 and 617, as applicable, to the same extent

13 as such a refurnishing violation was subject to such

14 liability on the day before the date of enactment of

15 the National Consumer Credit Reporting System

16 Improvement Act of 2003.

17 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON ENFORCEMENT.—The provi18 sions of law described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of

19 subsection (c) (other than with respect to the exceptions

20 described in paragraphs (2) and (4) of subsection (c))

21 shall be enforced exclusively as provided under section 621

22 by the Federal agencies and officials and the State offi23 cials identified in section 621.’’.
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1 (2) STATE ACTIONS.—Section 621(c) of the

2 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s(c)) is

3 amended—

4 (A) in paragraph (1)(B)(ii), by striking ‘‘of

5 section 623(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘described in any

6 of paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 623(c)

7 (other than with respect to the exception de8 scribed in paragraph (4) of section 623(c))’’;

9 and

10 (B) in paragraph (5)—

11 (i) in each of subparagraphs (A) and

12 (B), by inserting after ‘‘section 623(a)(1)’’

13 each place that term appears the following:

14 ‘‘or a violation described in any of para15 graphs (2) through (4) of section 623(c)

16 (other than with respect to the exception

17 described in paragraph (4) of section

18 623(c))’’; and

19 (ii) by amending the paragraph head20 ing to read as follows:

21 ‘‘(5) LIMITATIONS ON STATE ACTIONS FOR

22 CERTAIN VIOLATIONS.—’’.

23 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec24 tion, the amendments made by this section, or any other

25 provision of this Act shall be construed to affect any liabil-
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1 ity under section 616 or 617 of the Fair Credit Reporting

2 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681n, 1681o) that existed on the day be3 fore the date of enactment of this Act.

4 SEC. 313. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND CONSUMER

5 REPORTING AGENCY ACTION CONCERNING

6 COMPLAINTS.

7 Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

8 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(e) TREATMENT OF COMPLAINTS AND REPORT TO

11 CONGRESS.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Com13 mission shall—

14 ‘‘(A) compile all complaints that it receives

15 that a file of a consumer that is maintained by

16 a consumer reporting agency described in sec17 tion 603(p) contains incomplete or inaccurate

18 information, with respect to which, the con19 sumer appears to have disputed the complete20 ness or accuracy with the consumer reporting

21 agency or otherwise utilized the procedures pro22 vided by subsection (a); and

23 ‘‘(B) transmit each such complaint to each

24 consumer reporting agency involved.
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1 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION.—Complaints received or ob2 tained by the Federal Trade Commission pursuant

3 to its investigative authority under the Federal

4 Trade Commission Act shall not be subject to this

5 paragraph (1).

6 ‘‘(3) AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each con7 sumer reporting agency described in section 603(p)

8 that receives a complaint transmitted by the Federal

9 Trade Commission pursuant to paragraph (1)

10 shall—

11 ‘‘(A) review each such complaint to deter12 mine whether all legal obligations imposed on

13 the consumer reporting agency under this title

14 (including any obligation imposed by an appli15 cable court or administrative order) have been

16 met with respect to the subject matter of the

17 complaint;

18 ‘‘(B) provide reports on a regular basis to

19 the Commission regarding the determinations of

20 and actions taken by the consumer reporting

21 agency, if any, in connection with its review of

22 such complaints; and

23 ‘‘(C) maintain, for a reasonable time pe24 riod, records regarding the disposition of each
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1 such complaint that is sufficient to demonstrate

2 compliance with this subsection.

3 ‘‘(4) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—The Federal

4 Trade Commission may prescribe regulations in ac5 cordance with the requirements of section 553 of

6 title 5, United States Code, as appropriate to imple7 ment this subsection.

8 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Federal Trade

9 Commission shall submit to the Committee on Bank10 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and

11 the Committee on Financial Services of the House of

12 Representatives an annual report regarding informa13 tion gathered by the Commission under this sub14 section.’’.

15 SEC. 314. ONGOING AUDITS OF THE ACCURACY OF CON16 SUMER REPORTS.

17 (a) AUDITS REQUIRED.—The Board of Governors of

18 the Federal Reserve System (in this section referred to

19 as ‘‘the Board’’) shall conduct ongoing audits of the accu20 racy and completeness of information contained in con21 sumer reports prepared or maintained by consumer re22 porting agencies. The Board shall independently verify the

23 accuracy and completeness of information contained in

24 consumer reports by evaluating information and data pro-
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1 vided by consumer reporting agencies (as defined in sec2 tion 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act).

3 (b) SUBJECT MATTERS.—In conducting audits under

4 this section, the Board shall examine—

5 (1) the accuracy and completeness of informa6 tion contained in consumer reports, including an

7 analysis of the type of inaccurate or incomplete in8 formation, if any, that may have the most significant

9 impact on the availability and terms of various cred10 it products offered to borrowers; and

11 (2) the impact, if any, of incomplete and inac12 curate information on the credit and credit-based in13 surance scores that are most widely used to deter14 mine borrower credit worthiness and to make insur15 ance underwriting and rating decisions, including an

16 analysis of how, if at all, changes to credit scores re17 sulting from inaccurate or incomplete credit report18 ing information affect the availability and terms of

19 various credit products offered to borrowers.

20 (c) BIENNIAL REPORTS REQUIRED.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall submit a

22 report to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and

23 Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on

24 Financial Services of the House of Representatives

25 at the end of the 2-year period beginning on the
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1 date of enactment of this Act. Thereafter, the Board

2 shall conduct additional audits and submit addi3 tional reports once every 2 years.

4 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under

5 this subsection shall contain a detailed summary of

6 the findings and conclusions of the Board with re7 spect to the audits required by this section, and such

8 recommendations for legislative and administrative

9 action as the Board may determine to be appro10 priate.

11 (d) PROVISION OF REPORTS TO THE BOARD FOR

12 PURPOSES OF ANALYSIS.—Section 604(d) of the Fair

13 Credit Reporting Act (12 U.S.C. 1681b(d)) is amended

14 to read as follows:

15 ‘‘(d) FURNISHING CONSUMER REPORTS FOR ACCU16 RACY OR COMPLIANCE AUDITS.—A consumer reporting

17 agency shall provide consumer reports to the Board of

18 Governors of the Federal Reserve System, upon request,

19 for the purpose of conducting an accuracy or compliance

20 audit in accordance with section 314 of the National Con21 sumer Credit Reporting System Improvement Act of

22 2003.’’.
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1 SEC. 315. IMPROVED DISCLOSURE OF THE RESULTS OF RE2 INVESTIGATION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 611(a)(5)(A) of the Fair

4 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended by

5 striking ‘‘shall’’ and all that follows through the end of

6 the subparagraph, and inserting the following: ‘‘shall—

7 ‘‘(i) promptly delete that item of in8 formation from the file of the consumer, or

9 modify that item of information, as appro10 priate, based on the results of the reinves11 tigation; and

12 ‘‘(ii) promptly notify the furnisher of

13 that information that the information has

14 been modified or deleted from the file of

15 the consumer.’’.

16 (b) FURNISHER REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO INAC17 CURATE, INCOMPLETE, OR UNVERIFIABLE INFORMA18 TION.—Section 623(b)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting

19 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s–2(b)(1)) is amended—

20 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

21 the end; and

22 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period

23 at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘; and

24 ‘‘(E) if an item of any information dis25 puted by a consumer is found to be inaccurate

26 or incomplete or cannot be verified after any re-
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1 investigation under paragraph (1), promptly de2 lete that item of information from the fur3 nisher’s records or modify that item of informa4 tion, as appropriate, based on the results of the

5 reinvestigation.’’.

6 SEC. 316. RECONCILING ADDRESSES.

7 Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

8 U.S.C. 1681c), as amended by this Act, is amended by

9 adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(h) NOTICE OF DISCREPANCY IN ADDRESS.—

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

12 a consumer report relating to a consumer from a

13 consumer reporting agency described in section

14 603(p), the request includes an address for the con15 sumer that substantially differs from the addresses

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

17 a consumer report in response to the request, the

18 consumer reporting agency shall notify the requester

19 of the existence of the discrepancy.

20 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—

21 ‘‘(A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Fed22 eral banking agencies, the National Credit

23 Union Administration, and the Federal Trade

24 Commission shall, with respect to the entities

25 that are subject to their respective enforcement
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1 authority under section 621, and in coordina2 tion as described in subparagraph (B), pre3 scribe regulations providing guidance regarding

4 reasonable policies and procedures that a user

5 of a consumer report should employ when such

6 user has received a notice of discrepancy under

7 paragraph (1).

8 ‘‘(B) COORDINATION.—Each agency re9 quired to prescribe regulations under subpara10 graph (A) shall consult and coordinate with

11 each other such agency so that, to the extent

12 possible, the regulations prescribed by each

13 such entity are consistent and comparable with

14 the regulations prescribed by each other such

15 agency.

16 ‘‘(C) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO BE

17 INCLUDED.—The regulations prescribed under

18 subparagraph (A) shall describe reasonable poli19 cies and procedures for use by a user of a con20 sumer report—

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

22 the user knows the identity of the person

23 to whom the consumer report pertains; and

24 ‘‘(ii) if the user establishes a con25 tinuing relationship with the consumer,
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1 and the user regularly and in the ordinary

2 course of business furnishes information to

3 the consumer reporting agency from which

4 the notice of discrepancy pertaining to the

5 consumer was obtained, to reconcile the

6 address of the consumer with the consumer

7 reporting agency by furnishing such ad8 dress to such consumer reporting agency

9 as part of information regularly furnished

10 by the user for the period in which the re11 lationship is established.’’.

12 SEC. 317. FTC STUDY OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE FAIR

13 CREDIT REPORTING ACT.

14 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commis16 sion shall conduct a study on ways to improve the

17 operation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

18 (2) AREAS FOR STUDY.—In conducting the

19 study under paragraph (1), the Federal Trade Com20 mission shall review—

21 (A) the efficacy of increasing the number

22 of points of identifying information that a cred23 it reporting agency is required to match to en24 sure that a consumer is the correct individual

25 to whom a consumer report relates before re-
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1 leasing a consumer report to a user,

2 including—

3 (i) the extent to which requiring addi4 tional points of such identifying informa5 tion to match would—

6 (I) enhance the accuracy of cred7 it reports; and

8 (II) combat the provision of in9 correct consumer reports to users;

10 (ii) the extent to which requiring an

11 exact match of the first and last name, so12 cial security number, and address and ZIP

13 Code of the consumer would enhance the

14 likelihood of increasing credit report accu15 racy; and

16 (iii) the effects of allowing consumer

17 reporting agencies to use partial matches

18 of social security numbers and name rec19 ognition software on the accuracy of credit

20 reports;

21 (B) requiring notification to consumers

22 when negative information has been added to

23 their credit reports, including—
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1 (i) the potential impact of such notifi2 cation on the ability of consumers to iden3 tify errors on their credit reports; and

4 (ii) the potential impact of such notifi5 cation on the ability of consumers to re6 move fraudulent information from their

7 credit reports;

8 (C) the effects of requiring that a con9 sumer who has experienced an adverse action

10 based on a credit report receives a copy of the

11 same credit report that the creditor relied on in

12 taking the adverse action, including—

13 (i) the extent to which providing such

14 reports to consumers would increase the

15 ability of consumers to identify errors in

16 their credit reports; and

17 (ii) the extent to which providing such

18 reports to consumers would increase the

19 ability of consumers to remove fraudulent

20 information from their credit reports;

21 (D) any common financial transactions

22 that are not generally reported to the consumer

23 reporting agencies, but would provide useful in24 formation in determining the credit worthiness

25 of consumers; and
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1 (E) any actions that might be taken within

2 a voluntary reporting system to encourage the

3 reporting of the types of transactions described

4 in subparagraph (D).

5 (3) COSTS AND BENEFITS.—With respect to

6 each area of study described in paragraph (2), the

7 Federal Trade Commission shall consider the extent

8 to which such requirements would benefit con9 sumers, balanced against the cost of implementing

10 such provisions.

11 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 270 days

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the chairman of

13 the Federal Trade Commission shall submit a report to

14 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

15 of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services

16 of the House of Representatives containing a detailed

17 summary of the findings and conclusions of the study

18 under this section, together with such recommendations

19 for legislative or administrative actions as may be appro20 priate.
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1 TITLE IV—LIMITING THE USE

2 AND SHARING OF MEDICAL

3 INFORMATION IN THE FINAN4 CIAL SYSTEM

5 SEC. 411. PROTECTION OF MEDICAL INFORMATION IN THE

6 FINANCIAL SYSTEM.

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

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

9 as follows:

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

11 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON CONSUMER REPORTING

12 AGENCIES.—A consumer reporting agency shall not

13 furnish for employment purposes, or in connection

14 with a credit or insurance transaction, a consumer

15 report that contains medical information about a

16 consumer, unless—

17 ‘‘(A) if furnished in connection with an in18 surance transaction, the consumer affirmatively

19 consents to the furnishing of the report;

20 ‘‘(B) if furnished for employment purposes

21 or in connection with a credit transaction—

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

23 relevant to process or effect the employ24 ment or credit transaction; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) the consumer provides specific

2 written consent for the furnishing of the

3 report that describes in clear and con4 spicuous language the use for which the in5 formation will be furnished; or

6 ‘‘(C) such information is restricted or re7 ported using codes that do not identify, or pro8 vide information sufficient to infer, the specific

9 provider or the nature of such services, prod10 ucts, or devices to a person other than the con11 sumer, unless the report is being provided to an

12 insurance company for a purpose relating to en13 gaging in the business of insurance, other than

14 property and casualty insurance.

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

16 permitted pursuant to paragraph (3)(C) or regula17 tions prescribed under paragraph (5)(A), a creditor

18 shall not obtain or use medical information per19 taining to a consumer in connection with any deter20 mination of the consumer’s eligibility, or continued

21 eligibility, for credit.

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

23 INSURANCE ACTIVITIES AND REGULATORY DETER24 MINATIONS.—Section 603(d)(3) shall not be con25 strued so as to treat information or any communica-
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1 tion of information as a consumer report if the in2 formation or communication is disclosed—

3 ‘‘(A) in connection with the business of in4 surance or annuities, including the activities de5 scribed in section 18B of the model Privacy of

6 Consumer Financial and Health Information

7 Regulation issued by the National Association

8 of Insurance Commissioners (as in effect on

9 January 1, 2003);

10 ‘‘(B) for any purpose permitted without

11 authorization under the Standards for Individ12 ually Identifiable Health Information promul13 gated by the Department of Health and Human

14 Services pursuant to the Health Insurance

15 Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or

16 referred to under section 1179 of such Act, or

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

18 102; or

19 ‘‘(C) as otherwise determined to be nec20 essary and appropriate, by regulation or order

21 and subject to paragraph (6), by the Federal

22 Trade Commission, any Federal banking agency

23 or the National Credit Union Administration

24 (with respect to any financial institution subject

25 to the jurisdiction of such agency or Adminis-
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1 tration under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of sec2 tion 621(b), or the applicable State insurance

3 authority (with respect to any person engaged

4 in providing insurance or annuities).

5 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON REDISCLOSURE OFMED6 ICAL INFORMATION.—Any person that receives med7 ical information pursuant to paragraph (1) or (3)

8 shall not disclose such information to any other per9 son, except as necessary to carry out the purpose for

10 which the information was initially disclosed, or as

11 otherwise permitted by statute, regulation, or order.

12 ‘‘(5) REGULATIONS AND EFFECTIVE DATE FOR

13 PARAGRAPH (2).—

14 ‘‘(A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Each

15 Federal banking agency and the National Cred16 it Union Administration shall, subject to para17 graph (6) and after notice and opportunity for

18 comment, prescribe regulations that permit

19 transactions under paragraph (2) that are de20 termined to be necessary and appropriate to

21 protect legitimate operational, transactional,

22 risk, consumer, and other needs, consistent with

23 the intent of paragraph (2) to restrict the use

24 of medical information for inappropriate pur25 poses.
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1 ‘‘(B) FINAL REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—

2 The Federal banking agencies and the National

3 Credit Union Administration shall issue the

4 regulations required under subparagraph (A) in

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

6 beginning on the date of enactment of the Na7 tional Consumer Credit Reporting System Im8 provement Act of 2003.

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

10 provision of this subsection shall be construed as al11 tering, affecting, or superseding the applicability of

12 any other provision of Federal law relating to med13 ical confidentiality.’’.

14 (b) RESTRICTION ON SHARING OF MEDICAL INFOR15 MATION.—Section 603(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting

16 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(d)) is amended—

17 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘The term’’

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

19 the term’’; and

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

21 paragraph:

22 ‘‘(3) RESTRICTION ON SHARING OFMEDICAL

23 INFORMATION.—Except for information or any com24 munication of information disclosed as provided in

25 section 604(g)(3), the exclusions in paragraph (2)
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1 shall not apply with respect to information disclosed

2 to any person related by common ownership or affili3 ated by corporate control, if the information is med4 ical information, including information that is an in5 dividualized list or description based on the payment

6 transactions of the consumer for medical products or

7 services, or an aggregate list of identified consumers

8 based on payment transactions for medical products

9 or services.

10 (c) DEFINITION.—Section 603(i) of the Fair Credit

11 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(i)) is amended to read

12 as follows:

13 ‘‘(i) MEDICAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘medical in14 formation’ means information or data, other than age or

15 gender, whether oral or recorded, in any form or medium,

16 created by or derived from a health care provider or the

17 consumer, that relates to—

18 ‘‘(1) the past, present, or future physical, men19 tal, or behavioral health or condition of an indi20 vidual;

21 ‘‘(2) the provision of health care to an indi22 vidual; or

23 ‘‘(3) the payment for the provision of health

24 care to an individual.’’.
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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.—This section shall take ef2 fect at the end of the 180-day period beginning on the

3 date of enactment of this Act, except that paragraph (2)

4 of section 604(g) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (as

5 amended by subsection (a)) shall take effect on the later

6 of—

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

8 the date on which the regulations required under

9 paragraph (5)(B) of such section 604(g) (as added

10 by subsection (a) of this section) are issued in final

11 form; or

12 (2) the date specified in the regulations referred

13 to in paragraph (1).

14 SEC. 412. CONFIDENTIALITY OF MEDICAL CONTACT INFOR15 MATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS.

16 (a) DUTIES OF MEDICAL INFORMATION FUR17 NISHERS.—Section 623(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting

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

19 end the following:

20 ‘‘(6) DUTY TO PROVIDE NOTICE OFSTATUS AS

21 MEDICAL INFORMATION FURNISHER.—A person

22 whose primary business is providing medical serv23 ices, products, or devices, or the person’s agent or

24 assignee, who furnishes information to a consumer

25 reporting agency on a consumer shall be considered
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1 a medical information furnisher for purposes of this

2 title, and shall notify the agency of such status.’’.

3 (b) RESTRICTION OF DISSEMINATION OF MEDICAL

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

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

6 adding at the end the following:

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

8 of any medical information furnisher that has noti9 fied the agency of its status, unless—

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

11 number are restricted or reported using codes

12 that do not identify, or provide information suf13 ficient to infer, the specific provider or the na14 ture of such services, products, or devices to a

15 person other than the consumer; or

16 ‘‘(B) the report is being provided to an in17 surance company for a purpose relating to en18 gaging in the business of insurance other than

19 property and casualty insurance.’’.

20 (c) NO EXCEPTIONS ALLOWED FOR DOLLAR

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

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

23 provisions of subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘The provi24 sions of paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (a)’’.
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1 (d) COORDINATION WITH OTHER LAWS.—No provi2 sion of any amendment made by this section shall be con3 strued as altering, affecting, or superseding the applica4 bility of any other provision of Federal law relating to

5 medical confidentiality.

6 (e) FTC REGULATION OF CODING OF TRADE

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

8 (15 U.S.C. 1681s), as amended by this Act, is amended

9 by adding at the end the following:

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

11 NAMES.—If the Federal Trade Commission determines

12 that a person described in paragraph (6) of section 623(a)

13 has not met the requirements of such paragraph, the Com14 mission shall take action to ensure the person’s compliance

15 with such paragraph, which may include issuing model

16 guidance or prescribing reasonable policies and procedures

17 as necessary to ensure that such person complies with

18 such paragraph.’’.

19 (f) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

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

21 U.S.C. 1681b(g)), as amended by section 411 of this Act,

22 is amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘(other than

24 medical contact information treated in the manner

25 required under section 605(a)(6))’’ after ‘‘a con-
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1 sumer report that contains medical information’’;

2 and

3 (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘(other than

4 medical information treated in the manner required

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

6 obtain or use medical information’’.

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

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

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

10 TITLE V—FINANCIAL LITERACY

11 AND EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT

12 SEC. 511. SHORT TITLE.

13 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Financial Literacy and

14 Education Improvement Act’’.

15 SEC. 512. DEFINITIONS.

16 As used in this title—

17 (1) the term ‘‘Chairperson’’ means the Chair18 person of the Financial Literacy and Education

19 Commission; and

20 (2) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Finan21 cial Literacy and Education Commission established

22 under section 513.
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1 SEC. 513. ESTABLISHMENT OF FINANCIAL LITERACY AND

2 EDUCATION COMMISSION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a commission

4 to be known as the ‘‘Financial Literacy and Education

5 Commission’’.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The Commission shall serve to im7 prove the financial literacy and education of persons in

8 the United States.

9 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—

10 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be

11 composed of—

12 (A) the Secretary of the Treasury;

13 (B) the respective head of each of the Fed14 eral banking agencies (as defined in section 3

15 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act), the Na16 tional Credit Union Administration, the Securi17 ties and Exchange Commission, each of the De18 partments of Education, Agriculture, Defense,

19 Health and Human Services, Housing and

20 Urban Development, Labor, and Veterans Af21 fairs, the Federal Trade Commission, the Gen22 eral Services Administration, the Small Busi23 ness Administration, the Social Security Admin24 istration, the Commodity Futures Trading

25 Commission, and the Office of Personnel Man26 agement; and
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1 (C) at the discretion of the President, not

2 more than 5 individuals appointed by the Presi3 dent from among the administrative heads of

4 any other Federal agencies, departments, or

5 other Government entities, whom the President

6 determines to be engaged in a serious effort to

7 improve financial literacy and education.

8 (2) ALTERNATES.—Each member of the Com9 mission may designate an alternate if the member is

10 unable to attend a meeting of the Commission. Such

11 alternate shall be an individual who exercises signifi12 cant decisionmaking authority.

13 (d) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary of the Treasury

14 shall serve as the Chairperson.

15 (e) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall hold, at the

16 call of the Chairperson, at least 1 meeting every 4 months.

17 All such meetings shall be open to the public. The Com18 mission may hold, at the call of the Chairperson, such

19 other meetings as the Chairperson sees fit to carry out

20 this title.

21 (f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the

22 Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num23 ber of members may hold hearings.
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1 (g) INITIAL MEETING.—The Commission shall hold

2 its first meeting not later than 60 days after the date of

3 enactment of this Act.

4 SEC. 514. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

5 (a) DUTIES.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, through

7 the authority of the members referred to in section

8 513(c), shall take such actions as it deems necessary

9 to streamline, improve, or augment the financial lit10 eracy and education programs, grants, and materials

11 of the Federal Government, including curricula for

12 all Americans.

13 (2) AREAS OFEMPHASIS.—To improve finan14 cial literacy and education, the Commission shall

15 emphasize, among other elements, basic personal in16 come and household money management and plan17 ning skills, including how to—

18 (A) create household budgets, initiate sav19 ings plans, and make strategic investment deci20 sions for education, retirement, home owner21 ship, wealth building, or other savings goals;

22 (B) manage spending, credit, and debt, in23 cluding credit card debt, effectively;

24 (C) increase awareness of the availability

25 and significance of credit reports and credit
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1 scores in obtaining credit, the importance of

2 their accuracy (and how to correct inaccura3 cies), their effect on credit terms, and the effect

4 common financial decisions may have on credit

5 scores;

6 (D) ascertain fair and favorable credit

7 terms;

8 (E) avoid abusive, predatory, or deceptive

9 credit offers and financial products;

10 (F) understand, evaluate, and compare fi11 nancial products, services, and opportunities;

12 (G) understand resources that ought to be

13 easily accessible and affordable, and that in14 form and educate investors as to their rights

15 and avenues of recourse when an investor be16 lieves his or her rights have been violated by

17 unprofessional conduct of market inter18 mediaries; and

19 (H) improve financial literacy and edu20 cation through all other related skills.

21 (b) WEBSITE.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab23 lish and maintain a website, such as the domain

24 name ‘‘FinancialLiteracy.gov’’, or a similar domain

25 name.
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1 (2) PURPOSES.—The website established under

2 paragraph (1) shall—

3 (A) serve as a clearinghouse of information

4 about Federal financial literacy and education

5 programs;

6 (B) provide a coordinated entry point for

7 accessing information about all Federal publica8 tions, grants, and materials promoting en9 hanced financial literacy and education;

10 (C) offer information on all Federal grants

11 to promote financial literacy and education, and

12 on how to target, apply for, and receive a grant

13 that is most appropriate under the cir14 cumstances;

15 (D) as the Commission considers appro16 priate, feature website links to efforts that have

17 no commercial content and that feature infor18 mation about financial literacy and education

19 programs, materials, or campaigns; and

20 (E) offer such other information as the

21 Commission finds appropriate to share with the

22 public in the fulfillment of its purpose.

23 (c) TOLL-FREE HOTLINE.—The Commission shall

24 establish a toll-free telephone number that shall be made
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1 available to members of the public seeking information

2 about issues pertaining to financial literacy and education.

3 (d) DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF MATE4 RIALS.—The Commission shall—

5 (1) develop materials to promote financial lit6 eracy and education; and

7 (2) disseminate such materials to the general

8 public.

9 (e) COORDINATION OF EFFORTS.—The Commission

10 shall take such steps as are necessary to coordinate and

11 promote financial literacy and education efforts at the

12 State and local level, including promoting partnerships

13 among Federal, State, and local governments, nonprofit

14 organizations, and private enterprises.

15 (f) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—

17 (A) not later than 18 months after the

18 date of enactment of this Act, develop a na19 tional strategy to promote basic financial lit20 eracy and education among all American con21 sumers; and

22 (B) coordinate Federal efforts to imple23 ment the strategy developed under subpara24 graph (A).
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1 (2) STRATEGY.—The strategy to promote basic

2 financial literacy and education required to be devel3 oped under paragraph (1) shall provide for—

4 (A) participation by State and local gov5 ernments and private, nonprofit, and public in6 stitutions in the creation and implementation of

7 such strategy;

8 (B) the development of methods—

9 (i) to increase the general financial

10 education level of current and future con11 sumers of financial services and products;

12 and

13 (ii) to enhance the general under14 standing of financial services and products;

15 (C) review of Federal activities designed to

16 promote financial literacy and education, and

17 development of a plan to improve coordination

18 of such activities; and

19 (D) the identification of areas of overlap

20 and duplication among Federal financial lit21 eracy and education activities and proposed

22 means of eliminating any such overlap and du23 plication.

24 (3) NATIONAL STRATEGY REVIEW.—The Com25 mission shall, not less than annually, review the na-
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1 tional strategy developed under this subsection and

2 make such changes and recommendations as it

3 deems necessary

4 (g) CONSULTATION.—The Commission shall actively

5 consult with a variety of representatives from private and

6 nonprofit organizations and State and local agencies, as

7 determined appropriate by the Commission.

8 (h) REPORTS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months

10 after the date of the first meeting of the Commis11 sion, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall

12 issue a report to the Committee on Banking, Hous13 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Com14 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep15 resentatives on the progress of the Commission in

16 carrying out this title.

17 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required under

18 paragraph (1) shall include—

19 (A) information concerning the implemen20 tation of the duties of the Commission under

21 subsections (a) through (g);

22 (B) an assessment of the success of the

23 Commission in implementing the national strat24 egy developed under subsection (f);
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1 (C) an assessment of the availability, utili2 zation, and impact of Federal financial literacy

3 and education materials;

4 (D) information concerning the content

5 and public use of—

6 (i) the website established under sub7 section (b); and

8 (ii) the toll-free telephone number es9 tablished under subsection (c);

10 (E) a brief survey of the financial literacy

11 and education materials developed under sub12 section (d), and data regarding the dissemina13 tion and impact of such materials, as measured

14 by improved financial decision making;

15 (F) a brief summary of any hearings con16 ducted by the Commission, including a list of

17 witnesses who testified at such hearings;

18 (G) information about the activities of the

19 Commission planned for the next fiscal year;

20 (H) a summary of all Federal financial lit21 eracy and education activities targeted to com22 munities that have historically lacked access to

23 financial literacy materials and education, and

24 have been underserved by the mainstream fi25 nancial systems; and
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1 (I) such other materials relating to the du2 ties of the Commission as the Commission

3 deems appropriate.

4 (3) INITIAL REPORT.—The initial report under

5 paragraph (1) shall include information regarding all

6 Federal programs, materials, and grants which seek

7 to improve financial literacy, and assess the effec8 tiveness of such programs.

9 (i) TESTIMONY.—The Commission shall provide,

10 upon request, testimony by the Chairperson to the Com11 mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the

12 Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the

13 House of Representatives.

14 SEC. 515. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.

15 (a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may hold such

16 hearings, sit and act at such times and places, take such

17 testimony, and receive such evidence as the Commission

18 considers advisable to carry out this title.

19 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The

20 Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart21 ment or agency such information as the Commission con22 siders necessary to carry out this title. Upon request of

23 the Chairperson, the head of such department or agency

24 shall furnish such information to the Commission.
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1 (c) PERIODIC STUDIES.—The Commission may con2 duct periodic studies regarding the state of financial lit3 eracy and education in the United States, as the Commis4 sion determines appropriate.

5 SEC. 516. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS.

6 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of

7 the Commission shall serve without compensation in addi8 tion to that received for their service as an officer or em9 ployee of the United States.

10 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com11 mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per

12 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ13 ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title

14 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or

15 regular places of business in the performance of services

16 for the Commission.

17 (c) ASSISTANCE.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of

19 Financial Education of the Department of the

20 Treasury shall provide assistance to the Commission,

21 upon request of the Commission, without reimburse22 ment.

23 (2) DETAIL OFGOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—

24 Any Federal Government employee may be detailed

25 to the Commission without reimbursement, and such
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1 detail shall be without interruption or loss of civil

2 service status or privilege.

3 SEC. 517. STUDY BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.

4 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment

5 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States

6 shall submit a report to Congress assessing the effective7 ness of the Commission in promoting financial literacy and

8 education.

9 SEC. 518. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Com11 mission such sums as may be necessary to carry out this

12 title, including administrative expenses of the Commission.

13 TITLE VI—RELATION TO STATE

14 LAW

15 SEC. 611. RELATION TO STATE LAW.

16 Section 625(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

17 U.S.C. 1681t(d), regarding relation to State laws), as so

18 designated by section 214 of this Act, is amended—

19 (1) by striking paragraph (2);

20 (2) by striking ‘‘(c)—’’ and all that follows

21 through ‘‘do not affect’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) do not

22 affect’’; and

23 (3) by striking ‘‘1996; and’’ and inserting

24 ‘‘1996.’’.
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1 TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS

2 SEC. 711. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.

3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—Section 601 of the Fair Credit

4 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 note) is amended by strik5 ing ‘‘the Fair Credit Reporting Act.’’ and inserting ‘‘the

6 ‘Fair Credit Reporting Act’.’’.

7 (b) SECTION 604.—Section 604(a) of the Fair Credit

8 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(a)) is amended in para9 graphs (1) through (5), other than subparagraphs (E) and

10 (F) of paragraph (3), by moving each margin 2 ems to

11 the right.

12 (c) SECTION 605.—

13 (1) Section 605(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Re14 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)(1)) is amended by

15 striking ‘‘(1) cases’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) Cases’’.

16 (2)(A) Section 5(1) of Public Law 105–347

17 (112 Stat. 3211) is amended by striking ‘‘Judg18 ments which’’ and inserting ‘‘judgments which’’.

19 (B) The amendment made by subparagraph (A)

20 shall be deemed to have the same effective date as

21 section 5(1) of Public Law 105–347 (112 Stat.

22 3211).

23 (d) SECTION 609.—Section 609(a) of the Fair Credit

24 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by moving the margin 2

2 ems to the right; and

3 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by moving the margins

4 2 ems to the left.

5 (e) SECTION 617.—Section 617(a)(1) of the Fair

6 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681o(a)(1)) is amended

7 by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end.

8 (f) SECTION 621.—Section 621(b)(1)(B) of the Fair

9 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s(b)(1)(B)) is

10 amended by striking ‘‘25(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘25A’’.

11 (g) TITLE 31.—Section 5318 of title 31, United

12 States Code, is amended by redesignating the second item

13 designated as subsection (l) (relating to applicability of

14 rules) as subsection (m).

15 (h) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 2411(c) of

16 Public Law 104–208 (110 Stat. 3009–445) is repealed.

Attest:

Secretary.
108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2622

AMENDMENT