Federal Employee Credit Score Protection Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1286 To prohibit consumer credit reporting agencies and lenders from taking ad- verse action against federal employees and contractors impacted by the government shutdown, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KILMER, and Mr. ROUDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Financial Services A BILL To prohibit consumer credit reporting agencies and lenders from taking adverse action against federal employees and contractors impacted by the government shutdown, 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 ‘‘Federal Employee 4 Credit Score Protection Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1286 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON LOWERING THE CREDIT SCORES 1 OF COVERED INDIVIDUALS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act 3 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 4 the following new sections: 5 ‘‘§ 630. Prohibitions relating to credit scores during a 6 shutdown 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a cov- 8 ered entity may not lower the credit score of a covered 9 individual who fails to pay any qualified expense or obliga- 10 tion during the period beginning on the first day of a shut- 11 down and ending on the date that is 60 days after the 12 date on which the shutdown ends, if the covered individual 13 pays the qualified expense or obligation within such pe- 14 riod. 15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES.— 16 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION.—A covered entity shall, 17 to the extent practicable, identify covered individuals 18 eligible under subsection (a). 19 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE FROM THE OFFICE OF PER- 20 SONNEL MANAGEMENT.—The Director of the Office 21 of Personnel Management shall, to the extent prac- 22 ticable, assist covered entities in identifying covered 23 individuals. 24 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION BY INDIVIDUALS.—Not 25 later than 1 year after the date that is 60 days after 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1286 IH the date on which a shutdown ends, a covered indi- 1 vidual may notify a covered entity that the covered 2 entity may not lower the credit score of the covered 3 individual pursuant to subsection (a), and if such 4 credit score has been lowered, such covered indi- 5 vidual may seek a reversal of that action. 6 ‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION BY ENTITIES.—A covered entity 7 shall notify the public— 8 ‘‘(1) of the requirement described under sub- 9 section (a); and 10 ‘‘(2) how a covered individual may— 11 ‘‘(A) inform the entity of the eligibility of 12 the individual under subsection (a); and 13 ‘‘(B) submit such reasonable materials 14 deemed necessary to confirm such eligibility. 15 ‘‘(d) DUTIES OF CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN- 16 CIES.—A consumer reporting agency that receives a cred- 17 ible notification that a covered individual is eligible under 18 subsection (a) shall— 19 ‘‘(1) notify covered entities of the eligibility of 20 such covered individual; 21 ‘‘(2) to the extent practicable, inform other con- 22 sumer reporting agencies of the eligibility of such 23 covered individual; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1286 IH ‘‘(3) in the event the credit score of a covered 1 individual was lowered prior to receipt of such cred- 2 ible notification, take all necessary measures to re- 3 verse that action and restore the credit score of the 4 covered individual such that it reflects the credit 5 score such covered individual would have received 6 absent the consideration of the nonpayment of a 7 qualified expense or obligation. 8 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.—Upon petition by a covered in- 9 dividual, the Bureau may— 10 ‘‘(1) require a covered entity to make appro- 11 priate adjustments to the credit score of the covered 12 individual; and 13 ‘‘(2) issue a fine or take another enforcement 14 action, as determined by the Bureau. 15 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en- 17 tity’ means an entity that develops a credit score. 18 ‘‘(2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov- 19 ered individual’ means— 20 ‘‘(A) an employee of the Federal Govern- 21 ment who is furloughed or excepted from fur- 22 lough during the shutdown; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1286 IH ‘‘(B) a Federal contractor who, during any 1 lapse in Federal appropriations, is not receiving 2 pay by reason of such lapse; and 3 ‘‘(C) a spouse of an individual described 4 under subparagraph (A) or (B). 5 ‘‘(3) CREDIT SCORE.—The term ‘credit score’ 6 has the meaning given in section 609(f)(2). 7 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED EXPENSE OR OBLIGATION.— 8 The term ‘qualified expense or obligation’ means any 9 payment, including a partial payment, of a covered 10 individual relating to a mortgage loan, rent, credit 11 cards, medical expenses, automobile purchases or 12 leases, student loans, insurance premiums, utilities, 13 and other recurring payments or expenses ordinarily 14 incurred by such covered individual (as determined 15 by the Bureau). 16 ‘‘(5) SHUTDOWN.—The term ‘shutdown’ means 17 the period of a lapse in appropriations beginning on 18 or after December 22, 2018, and that ends before 19 October 1, 2019. 20 ‘‘§ 631. Prohibition on adverse lending determina- 21 tions for covered individuals 22 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—A creditor (as defined in section 23 103 of the Truth in Lending Act) may not knowingly deny 24 credit, or knowingly provide credit on less favorable terms 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1286 IH than would otherwise be provided, to a covered individual 1 who fails to pay any qualified expense or obligation during 2 the period beginning on the first day of a shutdown and 3 ending on the date that is 60 days after the date on which 4 the shutdown ends, if the covered individual pays the 5 qualified expense or obligation within such period. 6 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—The Bureau may issue a fine 7 or take another enforcement action, as determined by the 8 Bureau, against a creditor that violates subsection (a) if 9 the Bureau determines by a preponderance of the evidence 10 that the fact that the covered individual failed to pay a 11 qualified expense while not receiving pay by reason of a 12 lapse in Federal appropriations, or during the 60-day pe- 13 riod immediately following such lapse in Federal appro- 14 priations, was a substantial factor in the action taken by 15 the creditor that violated subsection (a). 16 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘covered individual’, 17 ‘qualified expense or obligation’, and ‘shutdown’ have the 18 meanings given those terms, respectively, in section 631.’’. 19 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 20 of contents of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended 21 by adding at the end the following new items: 22 ‘‘630. Prohibitions relating to credit scores during a shutdown. ‘‘631. Prohibition on adverse lending determinations for covered individuals.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1286.IH H1286 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS