Fair Credit Reporting for Servicemembers Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3439 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide protections for extended active duty uniformed consumers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Ms. SA´NCHEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide protec- tions for extended active duty uniformed 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 Credit Reporting 4 for Servicemembers Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CON- 6 SUMER. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 603 of the Fair Credit 8 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3439.IH H3439 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3439 IH (1) in subsection (q), by amending paragraph 1 (1) to read as follows: 2 ‘‘(1) ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMER.— 3 The term ‘active duty uniformed consumer’ means a 4 consumer who is— 5 ‘‘(A) in military service and on active serv- 6 ice (as defined in section 101(d) of title 10, 7 United States Code); or 8 ‘‘(B) a member of the uniformed services 9 (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United 10 States Code) who is not a member of the armed 11 forces and is on active service.’’; and 12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(bb) EXTENDED ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CON- 14 SUMER.—The term ‘extended active duty uniformed con- 15 sumer’ means an active duty uniformed consumer that is 16 deployed— 17 ‘‘(1) in a combat zone (as defined under section 18 112(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986); or 19 ‘‘(2) aboard a United States vessel.’’. 20 (b) PROHIBITION ON INCLUDING CERTAIN ADVERSE 21 INFORMATION IN CONSUMER REPORTS.—Section 605 of 22 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is 23 amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3439.IH H3439 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3439 IH (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(9) Any item of adverse information about a 3 consumer, if the action or inaction that gave rise to 4 the item occurred while the consumer was an ex- 5 tended active duty uniformed consumer.’’; and 6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(i) NOTICE OF STATUS AS AN EXTENDED ACTIVE 8 DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMER.—With respect to an item 9 of adverse information about a consumer, if the action or 10 inaction that gave rise to the item occurred while the con- 11 sumer was an extended active duty uniformed consumer, 12 the consumer may provide appropriate proof, including of- 13 ficial orders, to a consumer reporting agency that the con- 14 sumer was an extended active duty uniformed consumer 15 at the time such action or inaction occurred. The con- 16 sumer reporting agency shall promptly delete that item of 17 adverse information from the file of the consumer and no- 18 tify the consumer and the furnisher of the information of 19 the deletion.’’. 20 (c) COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE CONSUMER 21 AND CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES.—Section 605A 22 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c–1) is 23 amended— 24 (1) in subsection (c)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3439.IH H3439 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3439 IH (A) by striking ‘‘Upon’’ and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon’’; 3 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), 4 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), 5 and moving such redesignated subparagraphs 2 6 ems to the right; and 7 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(2) NEGATIVE INFORMATION ALERT.—Any 9 time a consumer reporting agency receives an item 10 of adverse information about a consumer, if the con- 11 sumer has provided appropriate proof that the con- 12 sumer is an extended active duty uniformed con- 13 sumer, the consumer reporting agency shall prompt- 14 ly notify the consumer— 15 ‘‘(A) that the agency has received such 16 item of adverse information, along with a de- 17 scription of the item; and 18 ‘‘(B) the method by which the consumer 19 can dispute the validity of the item. 20 ‘‘(3) CONTACT INFORMATION FOR EXTENDED 21 ACTIVE DUTY UNIFORMED CONSUMERS.—With re- 22 spect to any consumer that has provided appropriate 23 proof to a consumer reporting agency that the con- 24 sumer is an extended active duty uniformed con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3439.IH H3439 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3439 IH sumer, if the consumer provides the consumer re- 1 porting agency with separate contact information to 2 be used when communicating with the consumer 3 while the consumer is an extended active duty uni- 4 formed consumer, the consumer reporting agency 5 shall use such contact information for all commu- 6 nications while the consumer is an extended active 7 duty uniformed consumer.’’; and 8 (2) in subsection (e), by amending paragraph 9 (3) to read as follows: 10 ‘‘(3) subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 11 (c)(1), in the case of a referral under subsection 12 (c)(1)(C).’’. 13 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The Fair Credit 14 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by 15 striking ‘‘active duty military’’ each place such term ap- 16 pears and inserting ‘‘active duty uniformed’’. 17 (e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 18 gress that any person making use of a consumer report 19 containing an item of adverse information should, if the 20 action or inaction that gave rise to the item occurred while 21 the consumer was an extended active duty uniformed con- 22 sumer, take such fact into account when evaluating the 23 creditworthiness of the consumer. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3439.IH H3439 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS