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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4220 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4220

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect the credit records of 
  consumers who are affected by federally declared disasters, and for 
                            other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 27, 2004

     Ms. Bordallo (for herself, Mr. Sherman, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. 
 Faleomavaega, Mr. McIntyre, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Owens) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect the credit records of 
  consumers who are affected by federally declared disasters, 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 ``Federal Disaster Consumer Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING LATE PAYMENTS IN CREDIT REPORTS THAT 
              WERE LATE DUE SOLELY TO DECLARED DISASTERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 
(15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(7) Any reference to a late payment that was due solely 
        to a disruption caused by a declared disaster for which the 
        agency receives notice under subsection (i).''.
    (b) Procedure for Striking Adverse Information Due to Declared 
Disaster.--Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 
1681c) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Procedure for Striking Adverse Information Due to Declared 
Disaster.--
            ``(1) Notice from consumer.--Any consumer who--
                    ``(A) resides in an area which has been declared a 
                disaster area by the President under the Robert T. 
                Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act;
                    ``(B) fails to make a payment on an obligation by 
                the due date (of the payment) that falls within the 
                grace period described in paragraph (4); and
                    ``(C) pays the obligation within 30 days of the due 
                date referred to in subparagraph (B),
may notify the creditor at any time during the 2-year period following 
the end of the grace period, with respect to such obligation, that the 
late payment was due to the occurrence of the declared disaster.
            ``(2) Notice to consumer reporting agency.--Any creditor 
        which receives a notice from a consumer under paragraph (1) 
        shall notify any consumer reporting agency to which the 
        creditor furnished information on the late payment described in 
        such paragraph that the late payment was due to a disruption 
        caused by a declared disaster.
            ``(3) Responsibilities of the secretary of the treasury.--
        The Secretary of the Treasury may designate a grace period for 
        purposes of paragraph (1) if, after consultation with the Under 
        Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response of the 
        Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary determines 
        that--
                    ``(A) a disaster, as declared by the President 
                under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
                Emergency Assistance Act has caused damage to the 
                infrastructure affecting banking, credit, and other 
                financial services and transactions in a specified 
                geographic region; and
                    ``(B) the damage sustained could disrupt the 
                provision of financial services and the efficient 
                execution of financial transactions for a period longer 
                than the period described in paragraph (4)(A).
            ``(4) Grace period described.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (1), the grace period, with respect to any consumer, means the 
        longer of--
                    ``(A) the 7-day period that begins on the effective 
                date of the declaration, by the President, of the 
                disaster area in which the consumer resides; and
                    ``(B) the period, if any, prescribed by the 
                Secretary of the Treasury under paragraph (3).
            ``(5) Due date.--The term `due date' means the first date 
        upon which a late fee or other penalty may be imposed on a 
        consumer for a failure of the consumer to make a periodic 
        payment that is due on a debt.''.
    (c) Report to the Congress.--Before the end of the 2-year period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
the Treasury shall submit a report to the Congress containing--
            (1) a detailed description of the actions taken to 
        implement the requirements of the amendments made by this Act 
        and prevent evasions of such requirements;
            (2) pertinent information on the impact of such 
        requirements on the financial services; and
            (3) such recommendations for legislative or administrative 
        actions as the Secretary may determine to be appropriate.
                                 <all>
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