I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5445 

To provide clarification relating to credit monitoring services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2006 

Mr. PRICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, and Mr. SCOTT of Georgia) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide clarification relating to credit monitoring services. 

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 ‘‘Credit Repair Organi5 zations Act Technical Corrections Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION RELATING TO CREDIT MONI7 TORING SERVICES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Credit Repair 

9 Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679a) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘For purposes of this title’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 

3 title’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub5 section: 

6 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN

7 CREDIT MONITORING SERVICES UNDER CERTAIN CIR8 CUMSTANCES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2)— 

10 ‘‘(A) the provision of, or provision of ac11 cess to, credit reports, credit monitoring notifi12 cations, credit scores and scoring algorithms, 

13 and other credit score-related tools to a con14 sumer (including generation of projections and 

15 forecasts of such consumer’s potential credit 

16 scores under various prospective trends or hypo17 thetical or alternative scenarios); 

18 ‘‘(B) any analysis, evaluation, and expla19 nation of such actual or hypothetical credit 

20 scores, or any similar projections, forecasts, 

21 analyses, evaluations or explanations; or 

22 ‘‘(C) in conjunction with offering any of 

23 the services described in subparagraph (A) or 

24 B, the provision of materials or services to asVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:15 May 31, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5445.IH H5445

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1 sist a consumer who is a victim of identity 

2 theft, 

3 shall not be treated as activities described in clause 

4 (i) of subsection (a)(3)(A). 

5 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS FOR APPLICATION OF PARA6 GRAPH (1).—Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect 

7 to any person engaging in any activity described in 

8 such paragraph only if— 

9 ‘‘(A) the person does not represent, ex10 pressly or by implication, that such person— 

11 ‘‘(i) will or can modify or remove, or 

12 assist the consumer in modifying or remov13 ing, adverse information that is accurate 

14 and not obsolete in the consumer’s credit 

15 report; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) will or can alter, or assist the 

17 consumer in altering, the consumer’s iden18 tification to prevent the display of the con19 sumer’s credit record, history, or rating for 

20 the purpose of concealing adverse informa21 tion that is accurate and not obsolete; 

22 ‘‘(B) in any case in which the person rep23 resents, expressly or by implication, that it will 

24 or can modify or remove, or assist the consumer 

25 in modifying or removing, any information in 


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1 the consumer’s credit report, except for a rep2 resentation with respect to any requirement im3 posed on the person under section 611 or 

4 623(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the 

5 person discloses, clearly and conspicuously, be6 fore the consumer pays or agrees to pay any 

7 money or other valuable consideration to such 

8 person, whichever occurs first, the following 

9 statement: 

10 ‘NOTICE: Neither you nor any11 one else has the right to have accurate 

12 and current information removed from 

13 your credit report. If information in 

14 your report is inaccurate, you have 

15 the right to dispute it by contacting 

16 the credit bureau directly.’. 

17 ‘‘(C) the person provides the consumer in 

18 writing with the following statement before any 

19 contract or agreement between the consumer 

20 and the person is executed: 

21 ‘Your Rights Concerning Your 

22 Consumer Credit File 

23 ‘You have a right to obtain a free 

24 copy of your credit report once every 

25 12 months from each of the nationVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:15 May 31, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5445.IH H5445

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1 wide consumer reporting agencies. To 

2 request your free annual credit 

3 report, you may go to 

4 www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 

5 877–322–8228, or complete the An6 nual Credit Report Request Form and 

7 mail it to: Annual Credit Report Re8 quest Service, P.O. Box 105281, At9 lanta, GA 30348–5281. You can ob10 tain additional copies of your credit 

11 report from a credit bureau, for which 

12 you may be charged a reasonable fee. 

13 There is no fee, however, if you have 

14 been turned down for credit, employ15 ment, insurance, or a rental dwelling 

16 because of information in your credit 

17 report within the preceding 60 days. 

18 The credit bureau must provide some19 one to help you interpret the informa20 tion in your credit file. You are enti21 tled to receive a free copy of your 

22 credit report if you are unemployed 

23 and intend to apply for employment in 

24 the next 60 days, if you are a recipi25 ent of public welfare assistance, or if 


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1 you have reason to believe that there 

2 is inaccurate information in your 

3 credit report due to fraud. 

4 ‘You have the right to cancel 

5 your contract with a credit monitoring 

6 service without fee or penalty at any 

7 time, and in the case in which you 

8 have prepaid for a credit monitoring 

9 service, you are entitled to a pro rata 

10 refund for the remaining term of the 

11 credit monitoring service. 

12 ‘The Federal Trade Commission 

13 regulates credit bureaus and credit 

14 monitoring services. For more infor15 mation contact: 

16 ‘Federal Trade Commission 

17 ‘Washington, D.C. 20580 

18 ‘1–877–FTC–HELP 

19 ‘www.ftc.gov’. 

20 ‘‘(D) in any case in which the person offers 

21 a subscription to a credit file monitoring pro22 gram to a consumer, the consumer may cancel 

23 the subscription at any time upon written notice 

24 to the person without penalty or fee for such 

25 cancellation and, in any case in which the conVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:15 May 31, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5445.IH H5445

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1 sumer is billed for the subscription on other 

2 than a monthly basis, within 60 days of receipt 

3 of the consumer’s notice of cancellation, the 

4 person shall make a pro rata refund to the con5 sumer of a subscription fee prepaid by the con6 sumer, calculated from the date that the person 

7 receives the consumer’s notice of cancellation 

8 until the end of the subscription period.’’. 

9 (b) CLARIFICATION OF NONEXEMPT STATUS.—Sec10 tion 403(a) of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 1679a) (as so redesignated by subsection (a) of 

12 this section) is amended by striking clause (i) of para13 graph (3)(B) and inserting the following new clause: 

14 ‘‘(i) any organization that is not for 

15 its own profit or for that of its members;’’. 

16 (c) REVISION OF DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—Sec17 tion 405(a) of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 

18 U.S.C. 1679c) is amended by striking everything after the 

19 heading of the disclosure statement contained in such sec20 tion and inserting the following new text of the disclosure 

21 statement: 

22 ‘‘You have a right to dispute inaccurate infor23 mation in your credit report by contacting the credit 

24 bureau directly. However, neither you nor any ‘cred25 it repair’ company or credit repair organization has 


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1 the right to have accurate, current, and verifiable in2 formation removed from your credit report. The 

3 credit bureau must remove accurate, negative infor4 mation from your report only if it is over 7 years 

5 old. Bankruptcy information can be reported for 10 

6 years. 

7 ‘‘You have a right to obtain a free copy of your 

8 credit report once every 12 months from each of the 

9 nationwide consumer reporting agencies. To request 

10 your free annual credit report, you may go to 

11 www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 877–322–8228, 

12 or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form 

13 and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Serv14 ice, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348–5281. 

15 You can obtain additional copies of your credit re16 port from a credit bureau, for which you may be 

17 charged a reasonable fee. There is no fee, however, 

18 if you have been turned down for credit, employ19 ment, insurance, or a rental dwelling because of in20 formation in your credit report within the preceding 

21 60 days. The credit bureau must provide someone to 

22 help you interpret the information in your credit file. 

23 You are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit 

24 report if you are unemployed and intend to apply for 

25 employment in the next 60 days, if you are a recipiVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:15 May 31, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5445.IH H5445

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1 ent of public welfare assistance, or if you have rea2 son to believe that there is inaccurate information in 

3 your credit report due to fraud. 

4 ‘‘You have a right to sue a credit repair organi5 zation that violates the Credit Repair Organization 

6 Act. This law prohibits deceptive practices by credit 

7 repair organizations. 

8 ‘‘You have the right to cancel your contract 

9 with any credit repair organization for any reason 

10 within 3 business days from the date you signed it. 

11 ‘‘Credit bureaus are required to follow reason12 able procedures to ensure that the information they 

13 report is accurate. However, mistakes may occur. 

14 ‘‘You may, on your own, notify a credit bureau 

15 in writing that you dispute the accuracy of informa16 tion in your credit file. The credit bureau must then 

17 reinvestigate and modify or remove inaccurate or in18 complete information. The credit bureau may not 

19 charge any fee for this service. Any pertinent infor20 mation and copies of all documents you have con21 cerning an error should be given to the credit bu22 reau. 

23 ‘‘If the credit bureau’s reinvestigation does not 

24 resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you may 

25 send a brief statement to the credit bureau, to be 


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1 kept in your file, explaining why you think the 

2 record is inaccurate. The credit bureau must include 

3 a summary of your statement about disputed infor4 mation with any report it issues about you. 

5 ‘‘The Federal Trade Commission regulates 

6 credit bureaus and credit repair organizations. For 

7 more information contact: 

8 ‘‘Federal Trade Commission 

9 ‘‘Washington, D.C. 20580 

10 ‘‘1–877–FTC–HELP 

11 ‘‘(877 382–4357) 

12 ‘‘www.ftc.gov’’. 

Æ 


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