Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5332 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 30, 2020 Received AN ACT To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ensure that consumer reporting agencies are providing fair and accu- rate information reporting in consumer reports, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 5332 RDS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2020’’. 3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4 this Act is as follows: 5 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Establishment of online consumer portal landing page for consumer ac- cess to certain credit information. Sec. 3. Accuracy in consumer reports. Sec. 4. Improved dispute process for consumer reporting agencies. Sec. 5. Injunctive relief. Sec. 6. Increased transparency. Sec. 7. Consumer reporting agency registry. Sec. 8. Authority of Bureau with respect to consumer reporting agencies. Sec. 9. Bureau standards for protecting nonpublic information. Sec. 10. Report on data security risk assessments in examinations of consumer reporting agencies. Sec. 11. GAO study on the use of social security numbers. SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF ONLINE CONSUMER PORTAL 6 LANDING PAGE FOR CONSUMER ACCESS TO 7 CERTAIN CREDIT INFORMATION. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 612(a)(1) of the Fair 9 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j(a)(1)) is amended 10 by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(D) ONLINE CONSUMER PORTAL LANDING 12 PAGE.— 13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 14 year after the date of enactment of this 15 subparagraph, each consumer reporting 16 agency described in section 603(p) shall 17 jointly develop an online consumer portal 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 5332 RDS landing page that gives each consumer un- 1 limited free access to— 2 ‘‘(I) the consumer report of the 3 consumer; 4 ‘‘(II) the means by which the 5 consumer may exercise the rights of 6 the consumer under subparagraph (E) 7 and section 604(e); 8 ‘‘(III) the ability to initiate a dis- 9 pute with the consumer reporting 10 agency regarding the accuracy or 11 completeness of any information in a 12 report in accordance with section 13 611(a) or 623(a)(8); 14 ‘‘(IV) the ability to place and re- 15 move a security freeze on a consumer 16 report for free under section 605A(i) 17 and (j); 18 ‘‘(V) if the consumer reporting 19 agency offers a product to consumers 20 to prevent access to the consumer re- 21 port of the consumer for the purpose 22 of preventing identity theft, a disclo- 23 sure to the consumer regarding the 24 differences between that product and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 5332 RDS a security freeze as defined under sec- 1 tion 605A(i) or (j); 2 ‘‘(VI) information on who has 3 accessed the consumer report of the 4 consumer over the last 24 months, 5 and, as available, for what permissible 6 purpose the consumer report was fur- 7 nished in accordance with section 604 8 and section 609; and 9 ‘‘(VII) the credit score of the 10 consumer in accordance with section 11 609(f)(7). 12 ‘‘(ii) NO WAIVER.—A consumer re- 13 porting agency described in section 603(p) 14 may not require a consumer to waive any 15 legal or privacy rights to access— 16 ‘‘(I) a portal established under 17 this subparagraph; or 18 ‘‘(II) any of the services de- 19 scribed in clause (i) that are provided 20 through a portal established under 21 this subparagraph. 22 ‘‘(iii) NO ADVERTISING OR SOLICITA- 23 TIONS.—A portal established under this 24 subparagraph may not contain any adver- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 5332 RDS tising, marketing offers, or other solicita- 1 tions. 2 ‘‘(iv) EXTENSION.—The Bureau may 3 allow the consumer reporting agencies an 4 extension of 1 year to develop the online 5 consumer portal landing page required 6 under clause (i). 7 ‘‘(v) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 8 Nothing in this subparagraph may be con- 9 strued as requiring a consumer reporting 10 agency to disclose confidential proprietary 11 information through the online consumer 12 portal landing page. 13 ‘‘(E) OPT-OUT OPTION.— 14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a consumer re- 15 porting agency sells consumer information 16 in a manner that is not included in a con- 17 sumer report, the consumer reporting 18 agency shall provide each consumer with a 19 method (through a website, by phone, or in 20 writing) by which the consumer may elect, 21 free of charge, to not have the information 22 of the consumer so sold. 23 ‘‘(ii) NO EXPIRATION.—An election 24 made by a consumer under clause (i) shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 5332 RDS expire on the date on which the consumer 1 expressly revokes the election through a 2 website, by phone, or in writing.’’. 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 612(f)(1) 4 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j(f)(1)) 5 is amended, in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 6 by adding ‘‘or that is made through the online consumer 7 portal landing page established under subsection 8 (a)(1)(D),’’ after ‘‘subsections (a) through (d),’’. 9 SEC. 3. ACCURACY IN CONSUMER REPORTS. 10 Section 607(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 11 U.S.C. 1681e) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘(b) ENSURING ACCURACY.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In preparing a consumer 14 report, each consumer reporting agency shall follow 15 reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible 16 accuracy of the information concerning the consumer 17 to whom the report relates. 18 ‘‘(2) MATCHING INFORMATION IN A FILE.—In 19 assuring the maximum possible accuracy under 20 paragraph (1), each consumer reporting agency de- 21 scribed in section 603(p) shall ensure that, when in- 22 cluding information in the file of a consumer, the 23 consumer reporting agency— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 5332 RDS ‘‘(A) matches all 9 digits of the social se- 1 curity number of the consumer with the infor- 2 mation that the consumer reporting agency is 3 including in the file; or 4 ‘‘(B) if a consumer does not have a social 5 security number, matches information that in- 6 cludes the full legal name, date of birth, current 7 address, and at least one former address of the 8 consumer. 9 ‘‘(3) PERIODIC AUDITS.—Each consumer re- 10 porting agency shall perform periodic audits, on a 11 schedule determined by the Bureau, on a representa- 12 tive sample of consumer reports of the agency to 13 check for accuracy.’’. 14 SEC. 4. IMPROVED DISPUTE PROCESS FOR CONSUMER RE- 15 PORTING AGENCIES. 16 (a) RESPONSIBILITIES OF FURNISHERS OF INFOR- 17 MATION TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES.—Section 18 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s– 19 2) is amended— 20 (1) in subsection (a)(8)— 21 (A) in subparagraph (E)(ii), by inserting 22 ‘‘and consider’’ after ‘‘review’’; and 23 (B) in subparagraph (F)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 HR 5332 RDS (i) in clause (i)(II), by inserting ‘‘, 1 and does not include any new or additional 2 information that would be relevant to a re- 3 investigation’’ before the period at the end; 4 and 5 (ii) by adding at the end the following 6 new clause: 7 ‘‘(iv) NEW OR ADDITIONAL INFORMA- 8 TION.—For purposes of clause (i)(II), the 9 term ‘new or additional information’— 10 ‘‘(I) means information of a type 11 designated by the Bureau; and 12 ‘‘(II) does not include informa- 13 tion previously provided to the per- 14 son.’’; and 15 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘and con- 16 sider’’ after ‘‘review’’. 17 (b) BUREAU CREDIT REPORTING OMBUDSPERSON.— 18 Section 611(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 19 U.S.C. 1681i(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(8) BUREAU CREDIT REPORTING 22 OMBUDSPERSON.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 24 days after the date of enactment of this para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 HR 5332 RDS graph, the Bureau shall establish the position 1 of credit reporting ombudsperson, whose spe- 2 cific duties shall include carrying out the Bu- 3 reau’s responsibilities with respect to— 4 ‘‘(i) resolving persistent errors that 5 are not resolved in a timely manner by a 6 consumer reporting agency; and 7 ‘‘(ii) enhancing oversight of consumer 8 reporting agencies by— 9 ‘‘(I) advising the Director of the 10 Bureau, in consultation with the Of- 11 fice of Enforcement and the Office of 12 Supervision of the Bureau, on any po- 13 tential violations of paragraph (5) or 14 any other applicable law by a con- 15 sumer reporting agency, including ap- 16 propriate corrective action for such a 17 violation; and 18 ‘‘(II) making referrals to the Of- 19 fice of Supervision for supervisory ac- 20 tion or the Office of Enforcement for 21 enforcement action, as appropriate, in 22 response to violations of paragraph 23 (5) or any other applicable law by a 24 consumer reporting agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 HR 5332 RDS ‘‘(B) REPORT.—The ombudsperson shall 1 submit to the Committee on Financial Services 2 of the House of Representatives and the Com- 3 mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 4 of the Senate an annual report including statis- 5 tics and analysis on consumer complaints the 6 Bureau receives relating to consumer reports, 7 as well as a summary of the supervisory actions 8 and enforcement actions taken with respect to 9 consumer reporting agencies during the year 10 covered by the report.’’. 11 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONSUMER REPORTING 12 AGENCIES.—Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 13 (15 U.S.C. 1681i) is amended— 14 (1) in subsection (a)— 15 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 16 the following: 17 ‘‘(D) OBLIGATIONS OF CONSUMER RE- 18 PORTING AGENCIES RELATING TO REINVES- 19 TIGATIONS.—Commensurate with the volume 20 and complexity of disputes about which a con- 21 sumer reporting agency receives notice, or rea- 22 sonably anticipates to receive notice, under this 23 paragraph, each consumer reporting agency 24 shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 HR 5332 RDS ‘‘(i) maintain sufficient personnel to 1 conduct reinvestigations of those disputes; 2 and 3 ‘‘(ii) provide training with respect to 4 the personnel described in clause (i).’’; 5 (B) in paragraph (6)(B)— 6 (i) by amending clause (ii) to read as 7 follows: 8 ‘‘(ii) a copy of the consumer’s file and 9 a consumer report that is based upon such 10 file as revised, including a description of 11 the specific modification or deletion of in- 12 formation, as a result of the reinvestiga- 13 tion;’’; 14 (ii) by striking clause (iii) and redes- 15 ignating clauses (iv) and (v) as clauses (vi) 16 and (vii), respectively; 17 (iii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 18 following: 19 ‘‘(iii) a description of the actions 20 taken by the consumer reporting agency 21 regarding the dispute; 22 ‘‘(iv) if applicable, contact information 23 for any furnisher involved in responding to 24 the dispute and a description of the role 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 HR 5332 RDS played by the furnisher in the reinvestiga- 1 tion process; 2 ‘‘(v) the options available to the con- 3 sumer if the consumer is dissatisfied with 4 the result of the reinvestigation, includ- 5 ing— 6 ‘‘(I) submitting documents in 7 support of the dispute; 8 ‘‘(II) adding a consumer state- 9 ment of dispute to the file of the con- 10 sumer pursuant to subsection (b); 11 ‘‘(III) filing a dispute with the 12 furnisher pursuant to section 13 623(a)(8); and 14 ‘‘(IV) submitting a complaint 15 against the consumer reporting agen- 16 cy or furnishers through the consumer 17 complaint database of the Bureau or 18 the State attorney general for the 19 State in which the consumer resides;’’; 20 (C) by striking paragraph (7) and redesig- 21 nating paragraph (8) as paragraph (7); and 22 (D) in paragraph (7), as so redesignated, 23 by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), (6), and (7)’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2) and (6)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 HR 5332 RDS (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 section: 2 ‘‘(h) NOTIFICATION OF DELETION OF INFORMA- 3 TION.—A consumer reporting agency described in section 4 603(p) shall communicate with other consumer reporting 5 agencies described in section 603(p) to ensure that a dis- 6 pute initiated with one consumer reporting agency is noted 7 in a file maintained by such other consumer reporting 8 agencies.’’. 9 SEC. 5. INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act 11 (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended— 12 (1) in section 616 (15 U.S.C. 1681n)— 13 (A) in subsection (a), by amending the 14 subsection heading to read as follows: ‘‘DAM- 15 AGES’’; 16 (B) by redesignating subsections (c) and 17 (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 18 (C) by inserting after subsection (b) the 19 following: 20 ‘‘(c) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other 22 remedy under this section, a court may award in- 23 junctive relief to require compliance with the re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:59 Jan 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5332.RDS H5332 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 HR 5332 RDS quirements imposed under this title with respect to 1 any consu [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]