II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5543 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit consumer reporting 

agencies from furnishing consumer reports containing adverse items of 

information about a consumer that resulted from that consumer being 

unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad or held hostage abroad. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2024 

Mr. COONS (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit consumer reporting agencies from furnishing consumer reports containing adverse items of information about a 

consumer that resulted from that consumer being unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad or held hostage 

abroad. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Credit for Amer5 ican Hostages Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADVERSE INFORMATION ABOUT CONSUMERS UN2 LAWFULLY OR WRONGFULLY DETAINED 

3 ABROAD OR HELD HOSTAGE ABROAD. 

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

5 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

6 section 605C the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 605D. Adverse information about consumers un8 lawfully or wrongfully detained abroad 

9 or held hostage abroad 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) COVERED CONSUMER.—The term ‘covered 

12 consumer’ means an individual who has been— 

13 ‘‘(A) a United States national unlawfully 

14 or wrongfully detained abroad, as determined 

15 under section 302(a) of the Robert Levinson 

16 Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac17 countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741(a)); or 

18 ‘‘(B) a United States national taken hos19 tage abroad, as determined by the Hostage Re20 covery Fusion Cell established by section 304 

21 that Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b). 

22 ‘‘(2) DETENTION OR HOSTAGE DOCUMENTA23 TION.—The term ‘detention or hostage documenta24 tion’ means documentation that— 

25 ‘‘(A) certifies a consumer is a covered con26 sumer under this section; 


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1 ‘‘(B) identifies the time period during 

2 which the covered consumer was unlawfully or 

3 wrongfully detained abroad or held hostage 

4 abroad; and 

5 ‘‘(C) is authenticated by— 

6 ‘‘(i) the Special Presidential Envoy for 

7 Hostage Affairs established by section 303 

8 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery 

9 and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act 

10 (22 U.S.C. 1741a); or 

11 ‘‘(ii) the Hostage Recovery Fusion 

12 Cell established by section 304 of that Act 

13 (22 U.S.C. 1741b). 

14 ‘‘(b) ADVERSE INFORMATION.—If a consumer report15 ing agency described in section 603(p) is able to authen16 ticate detention or hostage documentation provided by a 

17 covered consumer, the consumer reporting agency may not 

18 furnish a consumer report containing any adverse item of 

19 information about the covered consumer dating during the 

20 time period the covered consumer was unlawfully or 

21 wrongfully detained abroad or held hostage abroad.’’. 

22 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

23 The table of contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

24 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

25 605C the following: 


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‘‘605D. Adverse information about consumers unlawfully or wrongfully detained 

abroad or held hostage abroad.’’. 

Æ 


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