I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1176
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect consumers from the
adverse consequences of incomplete and inaccurate consumer credit re-
ports, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 22, 2001
Mr. FORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect con-
sumers from the adverse consequences of incomplete and
inaccurate consumer credit reports, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Fair Credit Reporting
Act Amendments of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FREE CREDIT REPORT ANNUALLY UPON REQUEST
OF CONSUMER.
(a) Section 612 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15
U.S.C. 1681j) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as
subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection:
‘‘(c) FREE CREDIT REPORT ANNUALLY UPON RE-
QUEST OF CONSUMER.—Upon the request of any con-
sumer, each consumer reporting agency shall make all dis-
closures pursuant to section 609 without charge to such
consumer at least once each calendar year.’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—
Section 612(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15
U.S.C. 1681j(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(c), and (d)’’
and inserting ‘‘(c), (d), and (e)’’.
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF WORLD WIDE WEB SITE.
Section 609(c)(1)(B) of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act (15 U.S.C. 1681(c)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting
‘‘and information sufficient to allow the consumer to con-
tact the agency, or request a consumer report relating to
the consumer from the agency, through the Internet or
the World Wide Web’’ before the period at the end.
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF CREDIT SCORES AND EXPLA-
NATION OF CREDIT SCORES.
Section 609(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
(15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(1) All information in the consumer’s file at
the time of the request, including any information
concerning credit scores or any other risk scores or
predictors relating to the consumer, together with—
‘‘(A) a clear and concise summary of how
the scores and predictors are derived;
‘‘(B) the factors taken into account in de-
riving a score or predictor;
‘‘(C) how such factors are applied to the
consumer;
‘‘(D) the relative weight given to each fac-
tor; and
‘‘(E) the manner and extent to which such
factors raise or lower the score or predictor.’’
SEC. 5. SHORTER PERIOD FOR INCLUSION OF SMALL
DEBTS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.
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:
‘‘(6) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), any ac-
count placed for collection or charged to profit and
loss in which the amount placed to collection or
charged to profit and loss did not exceed $100 and
which antedates the report by more than 3 years,
if—
‘‘(A) the consumer to whom the report re-
lates completed a credit and financial manage-
ment class during such 3-year period; and
‘‘(B) the consumer has not previously had
an account excluded from paragraph (4) by vir-
tue of this paragraph.’’.
SEC. 6. PROMPT INVESTIGATION AND CORRECTION OR DE-
LETION OF INACCURATE, INCOMPLETE, OR
UNVERIFIABLE CONSUMER INFORMATION.
(A) REVIEW
AND MONITORING REQUIRED.—The
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and
the Federal Trade Commission shall each review and mon-
itor the extent to which, and the manner in which, con-
sumer reporting agencies and furnishers of consumer in-
formation to consumer reporting agencies are complying
with the procedures, time lines, and requirements under
the Fair Credit Reporting Act for the prompt investigation
of the disputed accuracy of any consumer information and
the prompt correction or deletion, in accordance with such
Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete information or infor-
mation that cannot be verified.
(b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Before the end of the 6-
month period beginning on the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System and the Federal Trade Commission shall each sub-
mit a progress report to the Congress on the results of
the review required under subsection (a).
(c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The report under sub-
section (b) shall include such recommendations as the
Board and the Commission determine to be appropriate
for legislative or administrative action to ensure that—
(1) consumer disputes with consumer reporting
agencies over the accuracy or completeness of infor-
mation in a consumer’s file are promptly and fully
investigated and any incorrect, incomplete, or un-
verifiable information is immediately corrected or de-
leted;
(2) furnishers of information to consumer re-
porting agencies maintain full and prompt compli-
ance with the duties and responsibilities established
under section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act;
and
(3) consumer reporting agencies establish and
maintain appropriate internal controls and manage-
ment review procedures for maintaining full and
continuous compliance with the procedures, time
lines, and requirements under the Fair Credit Re-
porting Act for the prompt investigation of the dis-
puted accuracy of any consumer information and the
prompt correction or deletion, in accordance with
such Act, of any inaccurate or incomplete informa-
tion or information that cannot be verified.
(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
terms ‘‘consumer’’, ‘‘consumer report’’, and ‘‘consumer re-
porting agency’’ have the same meaning as in the Fair
Credit Reporting Act.
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
at the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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