Title: Protecting Veterans Credit Act of 2017
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Protecting Veterans Credit Act of 2017
This bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to exclude from consumer report information: (1) a veteran's medical debt if the hospital care or medical services relating to the debt antedates the credit report by less than one year; and (2) a fully paid or settled veteran's medical debt that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection.
The bill defines a "veteran's medical debt" as debt from health care provided in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility under the laws administered by the VA, including medical debt that the VA has wrongfully charged a veteran.
A dispute process for veterans medical debt is established whereby:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 744 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 744

   To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to delay the inclusion in 
    consumer credit reports and to establish requirements for debt 
collectors with respect to medical debt information of veterans due to 
 inappropriate or delayed billing payments or reimbursements from the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 28, 2017

  Mr. Donnelly (for himself and Mr. Rounds) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 
                       Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to delay the inclusion in 
    consumer credit reports and to establish requirements for debt 
collectors with respect to medical debt information of veterans due to 
 inappropriate or delayed billing payments or reimbursements from the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Veterans Credit Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to rectify problematic reporting of medical debt 
        included in a consumer report of a veteran due to inappropriate 
        or delayed payment for hospital care or medical services 
        provided in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs facility under 
        the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and
            (2) to clarify the process of debt collection for such 
        medical debt.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.

    (a) Veteran's Medical Debt Defined.--Section 603 of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(z) Veteran.--The term `veteran' has the meaning given the term 
in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.
    ``(aa) Veteran's Medical Debt.--The term `veteran's medical debt'--
            ``(1) means a debt of a veteran arising from health care 
        provided in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs facility under 
        the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and
            ``(2) includes medical debt that the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs has wrongfully charged a veteran.''.
    (b) Exclusion for Veteran's Medical Debt.--Section 605(a) of the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:
            ``(7) Any information related to a veteran's medical debt 
        if the date on which the hospital care or medical services was 
        rendered relating to the debt antedates the report by less than 
        1 year.
            ``(8) Any information related to a fully paid or settled 
        veteran's medical debt that had been characterized as 
        delinquent, charged off, or in collection.''.
    (c) Removal of Veteran's Medical Debt From Consumer Report.--
Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by inserting ``and except as 
        provided in subsection (g)'' after ``subsection (f)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Dispute Process for Veteran's Medical Debt.--
            ``(1) In general.--With respect to a veteran's medical debt 
        of a consumer, the consumer may submit a notice along with 
        proof of liability of the Department of Veterans Affairs for 
        payment of that debt or documentation that the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs is in the process of making payment for 
        authorized medical services rendered to a consumer reporting 
        agency or a reseller to dispute the inclusion of that debt on a 
        consumer report of the consumer.
            ``(2) Notification to veteran.--The Department of Veterans 
        Affairs shall submit to a veteran a notice that the Department 
        of Veterans Affairs has assumed liability for part or all of a 
        veteran's medical debt.
            ``(3) Deletion of information from file.--If a notice and 
        proof of liability or documentation is received under paragraph 
        (1), the consumer reporting agency shall delete all information 
        relating to the veteran's medical debt from the file of the 
        consumer and notify the furnisher and the consumer of that 
        deletion.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date that 
is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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