I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4113 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to fix the consumer report dispute 
process, to ban misleading and unfair consumer reporting practices, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2021 
Ms. ADAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to fix the consumer 
report dispute process, to ban misleading and unfair 
consumer reporting practices, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Improving Credit Reporting for All Consumers Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Effective date. 
Sec. 4. Consumer Bureau rulemaking. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6211
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
TITLE I—IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DISPUTE PROCESS 
Sec. 101. Dispute procedures and disclosures relating to reinvestigations. 
Sec. 102. Consumer awareness of dispute rights. 
Sec. 103. Maintenance of records by furnishers. 
Sec. 104. Duties of furnishers relating to dispute procedures, notices, and dis-
closures. 
Sec. 105. Right to appeal disputes relating to reinvestigations and investiga-
tions. 
Sec. 106. Revised consumer reports. 
Sec. 107. Indication of dispute by consumers and use of disputed information. 
Sec. 108. Accuracy and completeness report duties for consumer reporting 
agencies and furnishers. 
Sec. 109. Inclusion of public record data sources in consumer reports. 
Sec. 110. Injunctive relief for victims. 
TITLE II—PROHIBITION ON MISLEADING AND UNFAIR 
CONSUMER REPORTING PRACTICES 
Sec. 201. Prohibition on automatic renewals for promotional consumer report-
ing and credit scoring products and services. 
Sec. 202. Prohibition on misleading and deceptive marketing related to the pro-
vision of consumer reporting and credit scoring products and 
services. 
Sec. 203. Prohibition on excessive direct-to-consumer sales. 
Sec. 204. Fair access to consumer reporting and credit scoring disclosures for 
nonnative English speakers and the visually and hearing im-
paired. 
Sec. 205. Comparison shopping for loans without harm to credit standing. 
Sec. 206. Nationwide consumer reporting agencies registry. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) GENERAL FINDINGS.— 
(A) 
Consumer 
reporting 
agencies 
(‘‘CRAs’’) are companies that collect, compile, 
and provide information about consumers in the 
form of consumer reports for certain permis-
sible statutory purposes under the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) 
(‘‘FCRA’’). The three largest CRAs in this 
country 
are 
Equifax, 
TransUnion, 
and 
Experian. These CRAs are referred to as na-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
tionwide CRAs and the reports that they pre-
pare are commonly referred to as credit reports. 
Furnishers, such as creditors, lenders, and debt 
collection agencies, voluntarily submit informa-
tion to CRAs about their accounts such as the 
total amount for each loan or credit limit for 
each credit card and the consumer’s payment 
history on these products. Reports also include 
identifying information about a consumer, such 
as their birthdate, previous mailing addresses, 
and current and previous employers. 
(B) In a December 2012 paper, ‘‘Key Di-
mensions and Processes in the U.S. Credit Re-
porting System: A review for how the nation’s 
largest credit bureaus manage consumer data’’, 
the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection 
(‘‘Consumer Bureau’’) noted that the three na-
tionwide CRAs maintain credit files on approxi-
mately 200 million adults and receive informa-
tion from about 10,000 furnishers. On a 
monthly basis, these furnishers provide infor-
mation on over 1.3 billion consumer credit ac-
counts or other trade lines. 
(C) The 10 largest institutions furnishing 
credit information to each of the nationwide 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
CRAs account for more than half of all ac-
counts reflected in consumers’ credit files. 
(D) Consumer reports play an increasingly 
important role in the lives of American con-
sumers. Most creditors, for example, review 
these reports to make decisions about whether 
to extend credit to consumers and what terms 
and conditions to offer them. As such, informa-
tion contained in these reports affects whether 
a person is able to get a private education loan 
to pay for college costs, to secure a mortgage 
loan to buy a home, or to obtain a credit card, 
as well as the terms and conditions under which 
consumer credit products or services are offered 
to them. 
(E) Credit reports are also increasingly 
used for many noncredit decisions, including by 
landlords to determine whether to rent an 
apartment to a prospective tenant and by em-
ployers to decide whether to hire potential job 
applicants or to offer a promotion to existing 
employees. 
(F) CRAs have a statutory obligation to 
verify independently the accuracy and complete-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
ness of information included on the reports that 
they provide. 
(G) The nationwide CRAs have failed to 
establish and follow reasonable procedures, as 
required by existing law, to establish the max-
imum level of accuracy of information contained 
on consumer reports. Given the repeated fail-
ures of these CRAs to comply with accuracy re-
quirements on their own, legislation is intended 
to provide them with detailed guidance improv-
ing the accuracy and completeness of informa-
tion contained in consumer reports, including 
procedures, policies, and practices that these 
CRAs should already be following to ensure full 
compliance with their existing obligations. 
(H) The presence of inaccurate or incom-
plete information on these reports can result in 
substantial financial and emotional harm to 
consumers. Credit reporting errors can lead to 
the loss of a new employment opportunity or a 
denial of a promotion in an existing job, stop 
someone from being able to access credit on fa-
vorable terms, prevent a person from obtaining 
rental housing, or even trigger mental distress. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(I) Current industry practices impose an 
unfair burden of proof on consumers trying to 
fix errors on their reports. 
(J) Consumer reports containing inac-
curate or incomplete credit information also un-
dermine the ability of creditors and lenders to 
effectively and accurately underwrite and price 
credit. 
(K) Recognizing that credit reporting af-
fects the lives of almost all consumers in this 
country and that the consequences of errors on 
a consumer report can be catastrophic for a 
consumer, the Consumer Bureau began accept-
ing consumer complaints about credit reporting 
in October 2012. 
(L) As of February 2017, the Consumer 
Bureau has handled approximately 185,717 
credit reporting complaints, making credit re-
porting consistently the third most-complained- 
about subject matter on which the Consumer 
Bureau accepts consumer complaints. 
(M) In the ‘‘Monthly Complaint Report 
Volume 20’’, released in February 2017, the 
Consumer Bureau noted that 76 percent of 
credit reporting complaints involved incorrect 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:32 Jul 22, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4113.IH
H4113
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS