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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 513 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 513

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 6, 2007

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to enhance the protection 
  of credit ratings of members of the reserve component who serve on 
   active duty in support of a contingency operation, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Heroes Credit Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CREDIT RATINGS OF MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE 
              COMPONENTS DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT OF CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Title II of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 208. PROTECTION OF CREDIT RATINGS OF MEMBERS OF RESERVE 
              COMPONENTS DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT OF CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS.

    ``(a) Request for Military Service Deployment Explanation.--At any 
time during or after serving on active duty in support of a contingency 
operation, an eligible servicemember may request that a consumer 
reporting agency include a military service deployment explanation with 
respect to a qualifying account in the file of that servicemember at 
the consumer reporting agency.
    ``(b) Responsibilities of Consumer Reporting Agencies.--Upon 
receiving a request from an eligible servicemember under subsection 
(a), a consumer reporting agency shall--
            ``(1) include a military service deployment explanation 
        with respect to a qualifying account in the file of that 
        servicemember and provide the military service deployment 
        explanation to each person who requests the credit score or 
        consumer report of the servicemember;
            ``(2) develop and maintain procedures for the referral to 
        other such agencies of any military service deployment 
        explanation received by the agency; and
            ``(3) notify the servicemember in writing that the 
        inclusion of any explanation or notation in the file of the 
        servicemember could potentially negatively affect the credit 
        rating of the servicemember and may not mitigate a low credit 
        score.
    ``(c) Duty of Reseller to Reconvey Military Service Deployment 
Explanation.--A reseller shall include in any report of the reseller on 
a servicemember any military service deployment explanation placed in 
the file of that servicemember by another consumer reporting agency 
pursuant to this section.
    ``(d) Acknowledgment of Military Service Deployment Explanation.--
Any prospective user of a consumer credit report containing a military 
service deployment explanation shall acknowledge such military service 
deployment explanation.
    ``(e) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The term `eligible servicemember' means a member of a 
        reserve component who serves on active duty outside the 
        continental United States in support of a contingency operation 
        under a call or order specifying a period of such service of 
        not less than 180 days (or who enters such service under a call 
        or order specifying a period of 180 days or less and who, 
        without a break in service, receives orders extending the 
        period of such service to a period of not less than 180 days).
            ``(2) The term `military service deployment explanation' 
        means a code generated by a consumer reporting agency that is 
        delivered in conjunction with a consumer report or credit score 
        to a user of the consumer report or credit score to indicate 
        that the consumer report or credit score of the consumer was 
        adversely affected during a period in which the consumer was a 
        servicemember serving on active duty outside the continental 
        United States in support of a contingency operation.
            ``(3) The term `contingency operation' has the meaning 
        given that term under section 101(a)(13) of title 10, United 
        States Code.
            ``(4) The term `active duty' has the meaning given that 
        term under section 101(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code.
            ``(5) The term `consumer reporting agency' has the meaning 
        given that term under section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 
        Act.
            ``(6) The term `reseller' has the meaning given that term 
        under section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
            ``(7) The term `qualifying account' means an account that 
        was opened by a servicemember before the date on which the 
        servicemember was deployed outside the continental United 
        States in support of a contingency operation, but only with 
        respect to obligations incurred before such date.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 207 
the following new item:

``Sec. 208. Protection of credit ratings of certain servicemembers.''.
    (c) Military Service Deployment Explanation Not to Affect Certain 
Future Transactions.--Section 108 of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 518) is 
amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting after 
``liability of that servicemember'' the following: ``, or the inclusion 
of a military service deployment explanation in a file of the 
servicemember at a consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 
208,''.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 5, 2007.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.
```