IB 
Union Calendar No. 248 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3629 
[Report No. 116–307] 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to establish clear Federal oversight 
of the development of credit scoring models by the Bureau of Consumer 
Financial Protection, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2019 
Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Financial Services 
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 
Additional sponsor: Mr. CLEAVER 
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 9, 2019] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to establish clear 
Federal oversight of the development of credit scoring 
models by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, 
and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clarity in Credit Score 
Formation Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The February 2015 report of the Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection titled ‘‘Consumer 
Voices on Credit Reports and Scores’’ found that some 
consumers are reluctant to comparison shop for loans 
and other types of consumer credit products out of 
fear that they will lower their credit scores by doing 
so. 
(2) The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec-
tion found that one of the most common barriers for 
people in reviewing their own credit reports and 
shopping for the best credit terms was a lack of un-
derstanding of the differences between ‘‘soft’’ and 
‘‘hard’’ inquiries and whether requesting a copy of 
their own report would adversely impact their credit 
standing. 
(3) The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protec-
tion revealed that consumers with accurate percep-
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tions of their creditworthiness may be better equipped 
to shop for favorable credit terms. 
SEC. 3. CONSUMER BUREAU OVERSIGHT OF CREDIT SCOR-
ING MODELS. 
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) 
is amended— 
(1) by adding at the end the following new sec-
tion: 
‘‘§ 630. Credit scoring models 
‘‘(a) VALIDATED CREDIT SCORING MODELS.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
section, the Bureau shall (in consultation with the Board 
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller 
of the Currency, the Board of Directors of the Federal De-
posit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit 
Union Administration Board) issue final regulations appli-
cable to any person that creates, maintains, utilizes, or pur-
chases credit scoring models used in making credit decisions 
to establish standards for validating the accuracy and pre-
dictive value of all such credit scoring models, both before 
release for initial use and at regular intervals thereafter, 
for as long as such credit scoring models are made available 
for purchase or use by such person. 
‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—At least once every 2 years, the 
Bureau shall conduct a review of credit scoring models to 
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determine whether the use of any particular factors, or the 
weight or consideration given to certain factors by credit 
scoring models, is inappropriate, including if such factors 
do not enhance or contribute to the accuracy and predictive 
value of the models. Upon the conclusion of its review, the 
Bureau may prohibit a person described in subsection (a) 
from weighing, considering, or including certain factors in, 
or making available for purchase or use, certain credit scor-
ing models or versions, as the Bureau determines appro-
priate.’’; and 
(2) in the table of contents for such Act, by add-
ing at the end the following new item: 
‘‘630. Credit scoring models.’’. 
SEC. 4. CONSUMER BUREAU STUDY AND REPORT TO CON-
GRESS ON THE IMPACT OF NON-TRADITIONAL 
DATA. 
(a) STUDY.—The Bureau of Consumer Financial Pro-
tection shall carry out a study to assess the impact (includ-
ing the availability and affordability of credit and other 
noncredit decisions, the potential positive and negative im-
pacts on consumer credit scores, and any unintended con-
sequences) of using traditional modeling techniques or alter-
native modeling techniques to analyze non-traditional data 
from a consumer report and of including non-traditional 
data on consumer reports on the following: 
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(1) Consumers with no or minimal traditional 
credit history. 
(2) Traditionally underserved communities and 
populations. 
(3) Consumers residing in rural areas. 
(4) Consumers residing in urban areas. 
(5) Racial and ethnic minorities and women. 
(6) Consumers across various income strata, par-
ticularly consumers earning less than 120 percent of 
the area median income (as defined by the Secretary 
of Housing and Urban Development). 
(7) Immigrants, refugees, and non-permanent 
residents. 
(8) Minority financial institutions (as defined 
under section 308(b) of the Financial Institutions Re-
form, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 
U.S.C. 1463 note)) and community financial institu-
tions. 
(9) Consumers residing in federally assisted 
housing, including consumers receiving Federal rental 
subsidies. 
(b) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In assessing im-
pacts under subsection (a), the Bureau of Consumer Finan-
cial Protection shall also consider impacts on— 
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(1) the privacy, security, and confidentiality of 
the financial, medical, and personally identifiable in-
formation of consumers; 
(2) the control of consumers over how such infor-
mation may or will be used or considered; 
(3) the understanding of consumers of how such 
information may be used or considered and the ease 
with which a consumer may decide to restrict or pro-
hibit such use or consideration of such information; 
(4) potential discriminatory effects; and 
(5) disparate outcomes the use or consideration 
of such information may cause. 
(c) CONSIDERATION OF RECENT GOVERNMENT STUD-
IES.—In assessing impacts under subsection (a), the Bu-
reau of Consumer Financial Protection shall also consider 
recent Government studies on alternative data, including— 
(1) the report of the Bureau of Consumer Finan-
cial Protection titled ‘‘CFPB Data Point: Becoming 
Credit Visible’’ (published June 2017); and 
(2) the report of the Comptroller General of the 
United States titled ‘‘Financial Technology: Agencies 
Should Provide Clarification on Lenders’ Use of Al-
ternative Data’’ (published December 2018). 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Bureau of Consumer Finan-
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cial Protection shall issue a report to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
Senate containing all findings and determinations, includ-
ing any recommendations for any legislative or regulatory 
changes, made in carrying out the study required under 
subsection (a). 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ALTERNATIVE MODELING TECHNIQUES.—The 
term ‘‘alternative modeling techniques’’ means statis-
tical and mathematical techniques that are not tradi-
tional modeling techniques, including decision trees, 
random forests, artificial neutral networks, nearest 
neighbor, genetic programming, and boosting algo-
rithms. 
(2) CONSUMER REPORT.—The term ‘‘consumer 
report’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 
1681a). 
(3) NON-TRADITIONAL
DATA.—The term ‘‘non- 
traditional data’’ means data related to telecommuni-
cations, utility payments, rent payments, remittances, 
wire transfers, data not otherwise regularly included 
in consumer reports issued by consumer reporting 
agencies described under section 603(p), and such 
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other items as the Bureau of Consumer Financial 
Protection deems appropriate. 
(4) TRADITIONAL MODELING TECHNIQUES.—The 
term ‘‘traditional modeling techniques’’ means statis-
tical and mathematical techniques (including models, 
algorithms, linear and logistic regression methods, 
and their outputs) that are traditionally used in 
automated underwriting processes. 
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Union Calendar No. 248 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 3629 
[Report No. 116–307] 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to estab-
lish clear Federal oversight of the development of 
credit scoring models by the Bureau of Consumer 
Financial Protection, and for other purposes. 
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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