II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1205 

To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require creditors to request 

demographic information from applicants for certain types of credit in 

order to prevent discriminatory lending practices with respect to those 

applicants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 11, 2019 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require creditors to request demographic information from applicants 

for certain types of credit in order to prevent discriminatory lending practices with respect to those applicants, 

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 ‘‘Protections in Con5 sumer Lending Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Equal Credit Opportunity 

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

4 section 704B (15 U.S.C. 1691c–2) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 704C. COLLECTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

7 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘annual percentage rate’ and ‘in8 terest’ have the meanings given those terms in sec9 tion 987(i) of title 10, United States Code; 

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered transaction’ means— 

11 ‘‘(A) the extension of credit with respect to 

12 the purchase of a motor vehicle; 

13 ‘‘(B) the extension of credit with respect to 

14 which the annual percentage rate of interest im15 posed is greater than 36 percent; 

16 ‘‘(C) the extension of credit— 

17 ‘‘(i) in an amount that is less than 

18 $15,000; or 

19 ‘‘(ii) with respect to which the period 

20 of repayment is less than 3 years; and 

21 ‘‘(D) the opening of a credit card account; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(3) the term ‘covered year’ means a year in 

24 which a creditor engages in a covered transaction. 

25 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE; SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is 

2 to provide the Bureau and the public with data that 

3 can be used to— 

4 ‘‘(A) help determine whether creditors are 

5 serving the credit-lending needs of the commu6 nities in which the creditors are located; and 

7 ‘‘(B) assist in— 

8 ‘‘(i) identifying possible discriminatory 

9 lending patterns; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) enforcing antidiscrimination stat11 utes, including this title. 

12 ‘‘(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

13 Congress that nothing in this section is intended to 

14 encourage unsound lending practices or the alloca15 tion of credit. 

16 ‘‘(c) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the other provi18 sions of this section, after a creditor decides whether 

19 to approve an application submitted by an applicant 

20 with respect to a covered transaction, the creditor— 

21 ‘‘(A) shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) request from the applicant the in23 formation described in paragraph (2) with 

24 respect to the applicant; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) when collecting information 

2 under clause (i), provide a disclaimer to 

3 the applicant regarding— 

4 ‘‘(I) the purposes of the collec5 tion of the information; and 

6 ‘‘(II) the right of the applicant 

7 under paragraph (3); 

8 ‘‘(iii) itemize the information with re9 spect to the application, including any in10 formation collected under clause (i), in 

11 order to clearly and conspicuously dis12 close— 

13 ‘‘(I) the number of the applica14 tion and the date on which the appli15 cation was received; 

16 ‘‘(II) the type and purpose of the 

17 covered transaction; 

18 ‘‘(III) the amount of the credit or 

19 credit limit applied for with respect to 

20 the covered transaction; 

21 ‘‘(IV) if applicable, the amount of 

22 the credit or credit limit approved for 

23 the applicant with respect to the cov24 ered transaction; 


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1 ‘‘(V) the type of action taken 

2 with respect to the application, the 

3 date on which that action is taken, 

4 and, if the action taken is to reject 

5 the application, the reason for that re6 jection; 

7 ‘‘(VI) the originator of the cov8 ered transaction; 

9 ‘‘(VII) the credit score and debt 

10 to income ratio of the applicant; 

11 ‘‘(VIII) if the covered transaction 

12 is a loan, whether or not the loan is 

13 amortizing; and 

14 ‘‘(IX) any additional data that 

15 the Bureau determines would aid in 

16 fulfilling the purposes of this section; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(iv) in accordance with subsection 

19 (e), submit any information collected under 

20 clause (i) and the information itemized 

21 under clause (iii) to the Bureau, which 

22 shall— 

23 ‘‘(I) store and maintain that in24 formation; 


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1 ‘‘(II) make the information avail2 able online in accordance with sub3 section (e)(5); and 

4 ‘‘(III) take the action described 

5 in subsection (f) with respect to the 

6 information; and 

7 ‘‘(B) in carrying out subparagraph (A), 

8 may not include in any record the name, spe9 cific address, telephone number, electronic mail 

10 address, or any other personally identifiable in11 formation of the applicant. 

12 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa13 tion described in this paragraph shall include, with 

14 respect to an applicant who submits an application 

15 to a creditor in connection with a covered trans16 action— 

17 ‘‘(A) the age of the applicant; 

18 ‘‘(B) the race of the applicant; 

19 ‘‘(C) the color of the applicant; 

20 ‘‘(D) the sex of the applicant; 

21 ‘‘(E) the marital status of the applicant; 

22 ‘‘(F) the sexual orientation of the appli23 cant; and 

24 ‘‘(G) the gender identity of the applicant. 


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1 ‘‘(3) RIGHT TO REFUSE.—An applicant with re2 spect to a covered transaction may refuse to provide 

3 any information requested under paragraph (1) with 

4 respect to the covered transaction. 

5 ‘‘(d) NO ACCESS BY UNDERWRITERS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION.—Where feasible, and subject 

7 to paragraph (2), no loan underwriter or other offi8 cer or employee of a creditor, or any affiliate of a 

9 creditor, involved in making any determination con10 cerning an application with respect to a covered 

11 transaction may have access to any information pro12 vided by the applicant with respect to that covered 

13 transaction pursuant to a request for information 

14 under subsection (c)(1)(A)(i) in connection with that 

15 application. 

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITED ACCESS.—If a creditor deter17 mines that a loan underwriter or other officer or em18 ployee of the creditor, or any affiliate of the creditor, 

19 involved in making any determination concerning an 

20 application with respect to a covered transaction 

21 should have access to any information provided by 

22 the applicant with respect to that covered trans23 action pursuant to a request for information under 

24 subsection (c)(1)(A)(i) in connection with that appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1205.IS S1205

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1 cation, the creditor shall provide notice to the appli2 cant— 

3 ‘‘(A) regarding the access of the under4 writer to that information; and 

5 ‘‘(B) that the creditor may not discrimi6 nate on the basis of that information. 

7 ‘‘(e) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO BUREAU.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 of 

9 the year after a covered year for a creditor, the cred10 itor shall submit to the Bureau all of the informa11 tion that the creditor collected under clause (i) of 

12 subsection (c)(1)(A) and itemized under clause (iii) 

13 of that subsection during that covered year. 

14 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION RETAINED.—Each creditor 

15 that submits information to the Bureau under para16 graph (1) shall retain a copy of that information in 

17 the records of the creditor for not less than 3 years 

18 after the date on which the creditor submits the in19 formation. 

20 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—A creditor that collects in21 formation under subsection (c)(1)(A) may not— 

22 ‘‘(A) share, exchange, transfer, sell, dis23 close, or otherwise permit access to that infor24 mation except as provided in this subsection; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) use that information for any purpose, 

2 including for a purpose relating to marketing, 

3 except as provided in this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE STATEMENT.—The Bureau 

5 shall make available a disclosure statement based on 

6 the information that each creditor submits for a cov7 ered year under paragraph (1), which— 

8 ‘‘(A) shall include— 

9 ‘‘(i) the number of applications for 

10 covered transactions that the creditor re11 ceived and approved during that covered 

12 year; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the zip code and State of resi14 dence for each applicant with respect to an 

15 application for a covered transaction re16 ceived by the creditor during that covered 

17 year; and 

18 ‘‘(B) may not include any information de19 scribed in subsection (c)(1)(B). 

20 ‘‘(5) ONLINE DISCLOSURE.—The Bureau 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) post a general notice regarding the 

23 availability of the information received by the 

24 Bureau under paragraph (1); 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the notice posted under subpara2 graph (A), clearly convey that the information 

3 described in that subparagraph is available on 

4 the website of the Bureau; and 

5 ‘‘(C) when making the information received 

6 under paragraph (1) available on the website of 

7 the Bureau, ensure that— 

8 ‘‘(i) the information is easy for mem9 bers of the public to access and under10 stand; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) accessing and reading the infor12 mation does not require the use of any ad13 vanced computer program or software. 

14 ‘‘(f) BUREAU ACTION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ENSURING NO DISCRIMINATION.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau shall ex17 amine the information submitted to the Bureau 

18 under subsection (e) or subparagraph (B), as 

19 applicable, to ensure that— 

20 ‘‘(i) each creditor makes a decision re21 garding whether to approve an application 

22 for a covered transaction based on the in23 ternal requirements and policies of the 

24 creditor with respect to the extension of 

25 credit; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) no creditor with respect to a cov2 ered transaction discriminates against an 

3 applicant with respect to that covered 

4 transaction on the basis of any char5 acteristic of the applicant described in sub6 section (c)(2). 

7 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION FROM OTHER GOVERN8 MENT ENTITIES.—For the purposes of subpara9 graph (A), the Bureau may rely on information 

10 that is collected by another Federal, State, or 

11 local government agency and submitted to the 

12 Bureau if the Director of the Bureau deter13 mines that— 

14 ‘‘(i) relying on that information pro15 motes transparency; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) the information collected by that 

17 other agency is substantially similar to the 

18 information that is submitted to the Bu19 reau under subsection (e). 

20 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau may take 

22 such action as the Bureau determines to be 

23 necessary or appropriate to carry out paragraph 

24 (1)(A), including by— 


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1 ‘‘(i) imposing a civil penalty in an 

2 amount described in section 706(b) against 

3 a creditor that violates that paragraph; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(ii) as appropriate, referring a mat6 ter to the Attorney General. 

7 ‘‘(B) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION REGARD8 ING BONA FIDE ERRORS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) UNINTENTIONAL ERRORS.—An 

10 error by a creditor in compiling or record11 ing information, including an incorrect 

12 entry for a census tract number, may not 

13 be construed as a violation of this section 

14 if the error is unintentional and occurs de15 spite the maintenance of procedures by the 

16 creditor that are reasonably adapted to 

17 avoid those errors. 

18 ‘‘(ii) INACCURATE OR INCOMPLETE

19 INFORMATION.—If a creditor, not later 

20 than 30 days after the end of each cal21 endar quarter, makes a good faith effort to 

22 record all information required to be col23 lected under clause (i) of subsection 

24 (c)(1)(A) and itemized under clause (iii) of 

25 that subsection during that quarter and 


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1 some of that information is nevertheless in2 accurate or incomplete, the error or omis3 sion, as applicable, may not be construed 

4 to violate this section if the creditor cor5 rects or completes the information before 

6 submitting the information to the Bureau 

7 under subsection (e). 

8 ‘‘(g) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 

9 year after the date of enactment of this section, and annu10 ally thereafter, the Bureau shall submit to Congress a re11 port regarding the efforts of the Bureau in carrying out 

12 this section.’’. 

13 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

14 The table of contents for the Equal Credit Opportunity 

15 Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

16 the item relating to section 704B (15 U.S.C. 1691c–2) 

17 the following: 

‘‘704C. Collection of demographic information.’’. 

Æ 


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