I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3642 
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 
JULY 9, 2019 
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. General Bureau rulemaking. 
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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. Prohibiton 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-
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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 
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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-
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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. 
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(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 
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information on reports, with consumers fre-
quently expressing their frustrations about the 
burdensome and time-consuming process to dis-
puting items. 
(N) Other common types of credit report-
ing complaints submitted to the Consumer Bu-
reau related to the improper use of a report, 
trouble obtaining a report or credit score, 
CRAs’ investigations, and credit monitoring or 
identity protection. 
(O) In the summer 2015 ‘‘Supervisory 
Highlights’’, the Consumer Bureau noted that 
one or more of the largest CRAs failed to ade-
quately oversee furnishers to ensure that they 
were adhering to the CRA’s vetting policies and 
to establish proper procedures to verify public 
record information. 
(P) According to the fall 2016 ‘‘Super-
visory Highlights’’, Consumer Bureau exam-
iners determined that one or more debt collec-
tors never investigated indirect disputes that 
lacked detail or were not accompanied by at-
tachments with relevant information from the 
consumer. Examiners also found that notifica-
tions sent to consumers about disputes consid-
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ered frivolous failed to identify for the con-
sumers the type of material that they could pro-
vide in order for the debt collector to complete 
the investigation of the disputed item. 
(Q) A February 2014 Consumer Bureau 
report titled ‘‘Credit Reporting Complaint 
Snapshot’’ found that consumers are confused 
about the extent to which the nationwide CRAs 
are required to provide them with validation 
and documentation of a debt that appears on 
their credit report. 
(R) As evidence that the current system 
lacks sufficient market incentives for CRAs to 
develop more robust procedures to increase the 
accuracy and completeness of information on 
credit reports, litigation discovery documented 
by 
the 
National 
Consumer 
Law 
Center 
(‘‘NCLC’’), as part of a January 2009 report 
titled, ‘‘Automated Injustice: How a Mecha-
nized Dispute System Frustrates Consumers 
Seeking to Fix Errors in Their Credit Re-
ports’’, showed that at least two of the three 
largest CRAs use quota systems to force em-
ployees to process disputes hastily and without 
the opportunity for conducting meaningful in-
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vestigations. At least one nationwide CRA only 
allowed dispute resolution staff five minutes to 
handle a consumer’s call. Furthermore, these 
CRAs were found to have awarded bonuses for 
meeting quotas and punished those who didn’t 
meet production numbers with probation. 
(S) Unlike most other business relation-
ships, where consumers can register their satis-
faction or unhappiness with a particular credit 
product or service simply by taking their busi-
ness elsewhere, consumers have no say in 
whether their information is included in the 
CRAs databases and limited legal remedies to 
hold the CRAs accountable for inaccuracies or 
poor service. 
(T) Accordingly, despite the existing statu-
tory mandate for CRAs to follow reasonable 
procedures to assure the maximum possible ac-
curacy of the information whenever they pre-
pare consumer reports, numerous studies, the 
high volume of consumer complaints submitted 
to the Consumer Bureau about incorrect infor-
mation on consumer reports, and supervisory 
activities by the Consumer Bureau demonstrate 
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that CRAs continue to skirt their obligations 
under the law. 
(2) INCORRECT
INFORMATION
ON
CONSUMER 
REPORTS.— 
(A) Consumers are entitled to dispute er-
rors on their consumer reports with either the 
CRA, who issued the report, or directly with 
furnishers, who supplied the account informa-
tion to the CRA, and request that mistakes be 
deleted or removed. Consumers, who believe an 
investigation has not correctly resolved their 
dispute, however, have few options, other than 
requesting that a statement about the dispute 
be included with their future reports. 
(B) CRAs have a statutory obligation 
under the FCRA to perform a reasonable inves-
tigation by conducting a substantive and 
searching inquiry when a consumer disputes an 
item on their report. In doing so, CRAs must 
conduct an independent review about the accu-
racy of any disputed item and cannot merely 
rely 
on 
a 
furnisher’s 
‘‘rubber-stamp’’ 
verification of the integrity of the information 
they have provided to CRAs. 
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(C) 
The 
Federal 
Trade 
Commission 
(‘‘FTC’’), in a ‘‘Report to Congress Under Sec-
tion 319 of the Fair and Accurate Credit 
Transactions Act of 2003’’ released in Decem-
ber 2012, found that 26 percent of survey par-
ticipants identified at least one potentially ma-
terial error on their consumer reports, and 13 
percent experienced a change in their credit 
score once the error was fixed. 
(D) Consumer Bureau examiners have 
identified repeated deficiencies with the nation-
wide CRAs’ information collection. In the sum-
mer 2015 ‘‘Supervisory Highlights’’ released in 
June 2015, the Consumer Bureau noted contin-
ued weaknesses with CRAs’ methods and proc-
esses for assuring maximum possible accuracy 
in their reports. Examiners also found, with 
certain exceptions, no quality control policies 
and procedures in place to test consumer re-
ports for accuracy. 
(E) In its ‘‘Credit Reporting Complaint 
Snapshot’’ released in February 2014, the Con-
sumer Bureau found that consumers were un-
certain about the depth and validity of the in-
vestigations performed about a disputed item. 
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‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REINSER-
TION OF PREVIOUSLY DELETED OR MODIFIED MATE-
RIAL.— 
‘‘(A) CERTIFICATION OF NEW DETERMINA-
TION
THAT
ITEM
IS
ACCURATE
OR
COM-
PLETE.—A consumer reporting agency may not 
reinsert into a consumer’s file any information 
that was previously deleted or modified pursu-
ant to paragraph (3)(D), unless the person who 
provided the information— 
‘‘(i) requests that the consumer re-
porting agency reinsert such information; 
‘‘(ii) submits a written certification 
that the information is accurate and com-
plete; and 
‘‘(iii) provides a statement describing 
the specific reasons why the information 
should be inserted. 
‘‘(B) NOTICE TO CONSUMER BEFORE RE-
INSERTION CAN OCCUR.—Upon receipt of a re-
quest for reinsertion of disputed information 
under subparagraph (A), the consumer report-
ing agency shall, not later than 5 business days 
before the consumer reporting agency reinserts 
the information into the consumer’s file, notify 
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tion under that section, complete an inves-
tigation of the disputed information pursu-
ant to the standards described in subpara-
graph (G); 
‘‘(iv) notify the consumer, in writing, 
of the receipt of the dispute that in-
cludes— 
‘‘(I) a statement about any infor-
mation additional to the information 
that the person is required to main-
tain under subsection (f) that would 
support the person’s ability to carry 
out an investigation to resolve the 
consumer’s dispute; and 
‘‘(II) a statement that the con-
sumer reporting agency to which the 
disputed information was provided will 
include a notation described in section 
605(e) in the consumer’s file until the 
investigation has been completed, and 
information about how a consumer 
may request that such notation is re-
moved by the agency; 
‘‘(v) if the investigation determines 
the disputed information is inaccurate, in-
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