Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 745 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require the inclusion of credit scores with free annual credit reports provided to consumers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 3, 2021 Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. SAN NICOLAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require the inclusion of credit scores with free annual credit reports provided to consumers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Access to Credit 4 Scores Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. CREDIT SCORES INCLUDED IN FREE ANNUAL DIS- 6 CLOSURES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 609 of the Fair Credit 8 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H745.IH H745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 745 IH (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end and in- 2 serting a period; 3 (B) by striking ‘‘except that—’’ and all 4 that follows through ‘‘(A) if the’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘except that if the’’; and 6 (C) by striking subparagraph (B); 7 (2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 8 following: 9 ‘‘(7) If the consumer reporting agency is a con- 10 sumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains 11 files on consumers on a nationwide basis as de- 12 scribed in section 603(p), each such agency shall dis- 13 close a current credit score generated using the scor- 14 ing algorithm, formula, model, program, or mecha- 15 nism that is most frequently used to generate credit 16 scores sold to creditors, subject to regulations of the 17 Bureau, along with any information in the con- 18 sumer’s file at the time of the request concerning 19 credit scores or any other risk scores or other pre- 20 dictors relating to the consumer, if such request is 21 made in connection with a free annual disclosure 22 made pursuant to section 612(a). 23 ‘‘(8) Such other consumer information as the 24 Bureau considers appropriate with respect to con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H745.IH H745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 745 IH sumer financial education, including the information 1 required by subsection (f)(1), information describing 2 the credit score of the consumer with respect to a 3 range of possible credit scores, and the general fac- 4 tors contributing to the credit scores of consumers.’’; 5 and 6 (3) in subsection (f)— 7 (A) in paragraph (1)— 8 (i) by striking ‘‘, a consumer report- 9 ing agency’’ and all that follows through 10 ‘‘shall include—’’ and inserting ‘‘or a risk 11 score, a consumer reporting agency shall 12 supply to the consumer—’’; and 13 (ii) by amending subparagraph (A) to 14 read as follows: 15 ‘‘(A) any credit score or risk score in the 16 file of the consumer at the consumer reporting 17 agency;’’; 18 (B) in paragraph (2)— 19 (i) by redesignating subparagraph (B) 20 as subparagraph (C); and 21 (ii) by striking subparagraph (A) and 22 inserting the following: 23 ‘‘(A) CREDIT SCORE.—The term ‘credit 24 score’ means a numerical value or a categoriza- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H745.IH H745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 745 IH tion derived from a statistical tool or modeling 1 system used by a person who makes or ar- 2 ranges a loan to predict the likelihood of certain 3 credit behaviors, including default. 4 ‘‘(B) RISK SCORE.—The term ‘risk score’ 5 means a numerical value or a categorization de- 6 rived from a statistical tool or modeling system 7 based upon information from a consumer report 8 for the purpose of predicting the likelihood of 9 certain behaviors or outcomes, and includes 10 scores used for the underwriting of insurance.’’; 11 (C) by striking paragraph (6) and insert- 12 ing the following: 13 ‘‘(6) MAINTENANCE OF CREDIT SCORES.—All 14 consumer reporting agencies shall maintain in the 15 consumer’s file credit scores or any other risk scores 16 or other predictors relating to the consumer for a 17 period of not less than 1 year beginning on the date 18 on which such information is generated.’’; 19 (D) by striking paragraph (7) and redesig- 20 nating paragraphs (8) and (9) as paragraphs 21 (7) and (8), respectively; and 22 (E) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), 23 by inserting before the period at the end the 24 following: ‘‘, except that a consumer reporting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H745.IH H745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 745 IH agency described in section 603(p) shall provide 1 a credit score without charge to the consumer 2 if the consumer is requesting the score in con- 3 nection with a free annual disclosure made pur- 4 suant to section 612(a)’’. 5 (b) INCLUSION IN FREE REPORTS.—Section 612(g) 6 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j(g)) is 7 amended— 8 (1) in paragraph (1)— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘free credit report’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘free or low cost credit report or credit 11 score’’; and 12 (B) by inserting ‘‘and free credit scores’’ 13 after ‘‘free credit reports’’; and 14 (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or free cred- 15 it score, as applicable,’’ after ‘‘free credit report’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H745.IH H745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS