I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1645 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to make improvements to the 

regulation of consumer reporting agencies and protect consumers, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2021 

Mr. MCHENRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to make improvements to the regulation of consumer reporting agencies 

and protect consumers, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Consumer 

5 Access to Credit Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CYBERSECURITY SUPERVISION AND EXAMINATION 

2 OF LARGE CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN3 CIES. 

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

5 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 630. CYBERSECURITY SUPERVISION AND EXAMINA8 TION OF LARGE CONSUMER REPORTING 

9 AGENCIES. 

10 ‘‘Consumer reporting agencies described under sec11 tion 603(p) shall be subject to cybersecurity supervision 

12 and examination by the Bureau.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

14 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended by adding 

15 at the end the following: 

‘‘630. Cybersecurity supervision and examination of large consumer reporting 

agencies.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY 

17 NUMBERS. 

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

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

20 at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY

22 NUMBERS.—A consumer reporting agency described 

23 under section 603(p)— 


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1 ‘‘(1) may not make any consumer report con2 taining a social security number; and 

3 ‘‘(2) may not use the social security number of 

4 a consumer as a method to verify the consumer.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 609(a)(1) 

6 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)) 

7 is amended by striking ‘‘except that—’’ and all that fol8 lows through ‘‘(B) nothing’’ and inserting ‘‘except that 

9 nothing’’. 

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

11 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2022. 

12 SEC. 4. EXCLUSION OF PAID MEDICAL DEBT. 

13 Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

14 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended, by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(9) Paid debt arising from the receipt of medi17 cally necessary, non-elective medical services, prod18 ucts, or devices which from the date of payment, 

19 antedate the report by more than 1 year.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. SECURITY FREEZES FOR PROTECTED CONSUMERS. 

21 (a) PLACEMENT OF FREEZE.—Section 605A(j)(2)(A) 

22 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c– 

23 1(j)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving a di25 rect request from a protected consumer’s repVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1645.IH H1645

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1 resentative, by mail, toll-free telephone, or se2 cure electronic means, that a consumer report3 ing agency place a security freeze, and upon re4 ceiving sufficient proof of identification and suf5 ficient proof of authority, the consumer report6 ing agency shall, free of charge, place the secu7 rity freeze not later than 3 business days after 

8 receiving the request directly from the protected 

9 consumer’s representative.’’. 

10 (b) REMOVAL OF FREEZE.—Section 605A(j)(4) of 

11 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c–1(j)(4)) 

12 is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by inserting after 

14 ‘‘Upon the direct request’’ the following: ‘‘, by mail 

15 or secure electronic means,’’; 

16 (2) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by inserting after 

17 ‘‘Upon the direct request’’ the following: ‘‘, by mail 

18 or secure electronic means,’’; and 

19 (3) in subparagraph (C)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘not later than—’’ and in21 serting the ‘‘not later than 3 days business days 

22 after receiving the request directly from the 

23 protected consumer or protected consumer’s 

24 representative.’’; and 

25 (B) by striking clauses (i) and (ii). 


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1 SEC. 6. PUBLIC RECORD DATA SOURCES IN CONSUMER RE2 PORTS. 

3 Section 605(d) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 1681c(d)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC RECORD DATA.—If a consumer re7 porting agency furnishes a consumer report that 

8 contains public record data, such consumer reporting 

9 agency shall include the source of such public record 

10 data in such report.’’. 

11 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING ADVERSE INFORMA12 TION RELATED TO PREDATORY MORTGAGE 

13 LENDING. 

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

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

16 section 605B the following: 

17 ‘‘§ 605C. Adverse information relating to predatory 

18 mortgage lending 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting agency 

20 may not furnish any consumer report containing any ad21 verse item of information relating to a covered residential 

22 mortgage loan (including the origination and servicing of 

23 such a loan, any loss mitigation activities related to such 

24 a loan, and any foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, 

25 or short sale related to such a loan), if the action or inac26 tion to which the item of information relates— 


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1 ‘‘(1) resulted from an unfair, deceptive, or abu2 sive act or practice, or a fraudulent, discriminatory, 

3 or illegal activity of a financial institution, as deter4 mined by a court of competent jurisdiction; or 

5 ‘‘(2) is related to an unfair, deceptive, or abu6 sive act or practice, or a fraudulent, discriminatory, 

7 or illegal activity of a financial institution that is the 

8 subject of a settlement agreement initiated on behalf 

9 of a consumer and that is between the financial in10 stitution and an agency or department of a local, 

11 State, or Federal Government. 

12 ‘‘(b) COVERED RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE.—In this 

13 section, the term ‘covered residential mortgage loan’ 

14 means any loan made primarily for personal, family, or 

15 household use that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, 

16 or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwell17 ing (as defined in section 103(w) of the Truth in Lending 

18 Act), including a loan in which the proceeds will be used 

19 for— 

20 ‘‘(1) a manufactured home (as defined in sec21 tion 603 of the Housing and Community Develop22 ment Act of 1974); 

23 ‘‘(2) any installment sales contract, land con24 tract, or contract for deed on a residential property; 

25 or 


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1 ‘‘(3) a reverse mortgage transaction (as defined 

2 in section 103(cc) of the Truth in Lending Act).’’. 

3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

4 of contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended 

5 by inserting after the item relating to section 605B the 

6 following new item: 

‘‘605C. Adverse information relating to predatory mortgage lending.’’. 

7 SEC. 8. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING ADVERSE INFORMA8 TION WHEN FINANCIAL ABUSE HAS BEEN DE9 TERMINED. 

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

11 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), as amended by section 7, is fur12 ther amended by inserting after section 605C the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘§ 605D. Adverse information in cases of financial 

15 abuse 

16 ‘‘A consumer reporting agency may not furnish a con17 sumer report containing any adverse item of information 

18 about a consumer that resulted from intentionally abusive 

19 or harmful financial behavior if— 

20 ‘‘(1) a court of competent jurisdiction, in a law21 suit that is not a class action lawsuit, has deter22 mined that the consumer is a victim of such inten23 tionally abusive or harmful financial behavior; 

24 ‘‘(2) such intentionally abusive or harmful fi25 nancial behavior was conducted by a spouse, family 


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1 or household member, caregiver, or person with 

2 whom such consumer had a dating relationship; and 

3 ‘‘(3) such consumer did not participate in or 

4 consent to such behavior.’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

6 of contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended 

7 by inserting after the item relating to section 605C the 

8 following new item: 

‘‘605D. Adverse information in cases of financial abuse.’’. 

9 SEC. 9. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING ADVERSE INFORMA10 TION WHEN A STUDENT OBLIGOR IS DE11 FRAUDED. 

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

13 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), as amended by section 8, is fur14 ther amended by inserting after section 605D the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘§ 605E. Adverse information in cases of a defrauded 

17 student obligor. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A consumer reporting agency 

19 may not furnish a consumer report containing any adverse 

20 item of information about a consumer that resulted from 

21 a private student loan obligation if— 

22 ‘‘(1) such consumer is a student obligor with 

23 respect to such private education loan; and 

24 ‘‘(2) a court of competent jurisdiction, in a law25 suit that is not a class action lawsuit, has deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 May 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1645.IH H1645

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1 mined that such consumer is a victim of fraud with 

2 respect to such private education loan. 

3 ‘‘(b) PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN DEFINED.—For the 

4 purposes of this section, the term ‘private education loan’ 

5 has the meaning given the term in section 140(a) of the 

6 Truth in Lending Act.’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

8 of contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended 

9 by inserting after the item relating to section 605D the 

10 following new item: 

‘‘605E. Adverse information in cases of a defrauded student obligor.’’. 

11 SEC. 10. BUREAU LIST OF CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES. 

12 The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall 

13 maintain a list of credit reporting agencies in the United 

14 States and publish such list of the website on the Bureau 

15 of Consumer Financial Protection. 

16 SEC. 11. STUDY AND REPORT TO CONGRESS ON USE OF 

17 NON-TRADITIONAL DATA IN CREDIT SCOR18 ING. 

19 (a) STUDY.—The Bureau of Consumer Financial 

20 Protection shall carry out a study about the use of non21 traditional data— 

22 (1) by consumer reporting agencies when com23 piling and furnishing consumer reports; and 


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1 (2) by persons that create, maintain, or pur2 chase credit scoring models used in making credit 

3 decisions. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

5 date of the enactment of this section, the Bureau of Con6 sumer Financial Protection shall issue a report to the 

7 Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

9 Urban Affairs of the Senate containing all findings and 

10 determinations, including any recommendations for any 

11 legislative or regulatory changes, made in carrying out the 

12 study required under subsection (a). 

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

14 the terms ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’ and ‘‘consumer 

15 report’’ shall have the meanings given the terms in section 

16 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

Æ 


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