Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2824 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 MAY 17, 2019 Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. LAWSON of Florida) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan- cial 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 2019’’. 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 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2824 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 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2824 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 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2824 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 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2824 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 (c) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.—The Fair Credit Re- 17 porting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a et seq.) is amended— 18 (1) in section 603 (15 U.S.C. 1681a)— 19 (A) in subsection (d)(2)(D), by striking 20 ‘‘(x)’’ and inserting ‘‘(y)’’; 21 (B) in subsection (q)(5), by striking 22 ‘‘103(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘103(j)’’; and 23 (C) in subsection (v), by striking ‘‘Bureau’’ 24 and inserting ‘‘Federal Trade Commission’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2824 IH (2) in section 604 (15 U.S.C. 1681b)— 1 (A) in subsection (b)— 2 (i) in paragraph (2)(B)(i), by striking 3 ‘‘section 615(a)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 4 615(a)(4)’’; 5 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B)(ii), by strik- 6 ing ‘‘clause (B)(i)(IV)’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘clause (i)(IV)’’; 8 (iii) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by insert- 9 ing ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 10 (iv) by striking ‘‘section 609(c)(3)’’ 11 each place that term appears and inserting 12 ‘‘section 609(c)’’; and 13 (B) in subsection (g)(5), by striking 14 ‘‘PARAGRAPH (2).—’’ and all that follows 15 through ‘‘The Bureau’’ and inserting ‘‘PARA- 16 GRAPH (2).—The Bureau’’; 17 (3) in section 605 (15 U.S.C. 1681c)— 18 (A) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘who’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘which’’; and 20 (B) in subsection (h)(2)(A)— 21 (i) by striking ‘‘shall,,’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘shall,’’; and 23 (ii) by striking ‘‘Commission,,’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘Commission,’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2824 IH (4) in section 605A(h)(1)(A) (15 U.S.C. 1681c– 1 1(h)(1)(A)), by striking ‘‘103(i)’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘103(j)’’; 3 (5) in section 607(e)(3)(A) (15 U.S.C. 4 1681e(e)(3)(A)), by striking ‘‘section 5 604(b)(4)(E)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6 604(b)(4)(D)(i)’’; 7 (6) in section 609 (15 U.S.C. 1681g)— 8 (A) in subsection (a)(3)(C)(i), by striking 9 ‘‘section 604(b)(4)(E)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec- 10 tion 604(b)(4)(D)(i)’’; 11 (B) in subsection (c)(1)— 12 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 13 ing ‘‘COMMISSION’’ and inserting ‘‘BU- 14 REAU’’; and 15 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(vi), by strik- 16 ing ‘‘603(w)’’ and inserting ‘‘603(x)’’; 17 (C) in subsection (e)(2)(B)(ii)(II), by strik- 18 ing ‘‘an’’; and 19 (D) by striking ‘‘The Commission’’ each 20 place that term appears and inserting ‘‘The Bu- 21 reau’’; 22 (7) in section 610 (15 U.S.C. 1681h)— 23 (A) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘sec- 24 tion’’ after ‘‘under’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2824 IH (B) in subsection (e), by inserting a 1 comma after ‘‘on the report’’; 2 (8) in section 611 (15 U.S.C. 1681i), by strik- 3 ing ‘‘The Commission’’ each place that term appears 4 and inserting ‘‘The Bureau’’; 5 (9) in section 612 (15 U.S.C. 1681j)— 6 (A) in subsection (a)(1)— 7 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 8 ‘‘(w)’’ and inserting ‘‘(x)’’; and 9 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 10 ‘‘603(w)’’ each place that term appears 11 and inserting ‘‘603(x)’’; 12 (B) in subsection (g)(2), by striking 13 ‘‘televison’’ and inserting ‘‘television’’; and 14 (C) by striking ‘‘The Commission’’ each 15 place that term appears and inserting ‘‘The Bu- 16 reau’’; and 17 (10) in section 621 (15 U.S.C. 1681s)— 18 (A) in subsection (a)(1), in the first sen- 19 tence, by striking ‘‘, subsection (b)’’; 20 (B) in subsection (e)(2), by inserting a pe- 21 riod after ‘‘provisions of this title’’; and 22 (C) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘The 23 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Bureau’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2824.IH H2824 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS