Disaster Protection for Workers’ Credit Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3508 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for disaster protection for workers’ credit. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 17, 2020 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for disaster protection for workers’ credit. 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 ‘‘Disaster Protection 4 for Workers’ Credit Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purpose of this Act, and the amendments made 7 by this Act, is to protect consumers’ credit from negative 8 impacts as a result of financial hardship due to the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 2 •S 3508 IS coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak and future 1 major disasters. 2 SEC. 3. REPORTING OF INFORMATION DURING MAJOR DIS- 3 ASTERS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act is 5 amended by inserting after section 605B the following: 6 ‘‘§ 605C. Reporting of information during major disas- 7 ters 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 ‘‘(1) COVERED CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID– 10 19) OUTBREAK PERIOD.—The term ‘covered 11 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak period’ 12 means the period beginning on January 31, 2020, 13 and ending on the later of— 14 ‘‘(A) 120 days after the date of enactment 15 of this section; or 16 ‘‘(B) 120 days after the date on which the 17 public health emergency declared by the Sec- 18 retary of Health and Human Services on Janu- 19 ary 31, 2020, under section 319 of the Public 20 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), termi- 21 nates. 22 ‘‘(2) COVERED MAJOR DISASTER PERIOD.—The 23 term ‘covered major disaster period’ means the pe- 24 riod beginning on the date on which a major disaster 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 3 •S 3508 IS is declared by the President under section 401 of the 1 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 2 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) and ending on the 3 date that is 120 days after the end of the incident 4 period designated in such declaration. 5 ‘‘(3) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘major dis- 6 aster’ means a major disaster declared by the Presi- 7 dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 8 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 9 U.S.C. 5170), under which assistance is authorized 10 under section 408 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5174). 11 ‘‘(b) MORATORIUM ON FURNISHING ADVERSE IN- 12 FORMATION DURING COVERED CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 13 (COVID–19) OUTBREAK PERIOD.—No person may fur- 14 nish any adverse item of information relating to a con- 15 sumer that was the result of any action or inaction that 16 occurred during the covered coronavirus disease (COVID– 17 19) outbreak period. 18 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM ON FURNISHING ADVERSE INFOR- 19 MATION DURING COVERED MAJOR DISASTER PERIOD.— 20 No person may furnish any adverse item of information 21 relating to a consumer that was the result of any action 22 or inaction that occurred during a covered major disaster 23 period if the consumer is a resident of the affected area 24 covered by a declaration made by the President under sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 4 •S 3508 IS tion 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 1 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 2 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION EXCLUDED FROM CONSUMER 3 REPORTS.—In addition to the information described in 4 section 605(a), no consumer reporting agency may make 5 any consumer report containing an adverse item of infor- 6 mation reported relating to a consumer that was the result 7 of any action or inaction that occurred during the covered 8 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak period or a cov- 9 ered major disaster period, and as applicable under sub- 10 section (f)(3), for 270 days after the expiration of the ap- 11 plicable period. 12 ‘‘(e) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS.—The model summary of 13 rights under section 609(c)(1) shall include a description 14 of the right of a consumer to— 15 ‘‘(1) request the deletion of adverse items of in- 16 formation under subsection (f); and 17 ‘‘(2) request a consumer report or score, with- 18 out charge to the consumer, under subsection (g). 19 ‘‘(f) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFORMA- 20 TION RESULTING FROM THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 21 (COVID–19) OUTBREAK AND MAJOR DISASTERS.— 22 ‘‘(1) REPORTING.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 24 days after the date of enactment of this sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 5 •S 3508 IS section, the Bureau shall create a website for 1 consumers to report, under penalty of perjury, 2 economic hardship as a result of the 3 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak or a 4 major disaster for the purpose of extending 5 credit report protection for an additional 270 6 days after the end of the covered coronavirus 7 disease (COVID–19) outbreak period or covered 8 major disaster period, as applicable. 9 ‘‘(B) DOCUMENTATION.—The Bureau 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(i) not require any documentation 12 from a consumer to substantiate the eco- 13 nomic hardship; and 14 ‘‘(ii) provide notice to the consumer 15 that a report under subparagraph (A) is 16 under penalty of perjury. 17 ‘‘(C) REPORTING PERIOD.—A consumer 18 may report economic hardship under subpara- 19 graph (A) during the covered coronavirus dis- 20 ease (COVID–19) outbreak period or a covered 21 major disaster period, as applicable, and for 60 22 days thereafter. 23 ‘‘(2) DATABASE.—The Bureau shall establish 24 and maintain a secure database that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 6 •S 3508 IS ‘‘(A) is accessible to each consumer report- 1 ing agency described in section 603(p) and na- 2 tionwide specialty consumer reporting agency 3 for purposes of fulfilling their duties under 4 paragraph (3) to check and automatically delete 5 any adverse item of information reported that 6 occurred during the covered coronavirus disease 7 (COVID–19) outbreak period or a covered 8 major disaster period with respect to a con- 9 sumer; and 10 ‘‘(B) contains the information reported 11 under paragraph (1). 12 ‘‘(3) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFOR- 13 MATION BY NATIONWIDE CONSUMER REPORTING 14 AND NATIONWIDE SPECIALTY CONSUMER REPORT- 15 ING AGENCIES.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each consumer re- 17 porting agency described in section 603(p) and 18 each nationwide specialty consumer reporting 19 agency shall, using the information contained in 20 the database established under paragraph (2), 21 delete from the file of each consumer named in 22 the database each adverse item of information 23 that was a result of an action or inaction that 24 occurred during the covered coronavirus disease 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 7 •S 3508 IS (COVID–19) outbreak period or a covered 1 major disaster period up to 270 days following 2 the end of the such period. 3 ‘‘(B) TIMELINE.—Each consumer report- 4 ing agency described in section 603(p) and each 5 nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency 6 shall check the database at least weekly and de- 7 lete adverse items of information as soon as 8 practicable after information that is reported 9 under paragraph (1) appears in the database 10 established under paragraph (2). 11 ‘‘(4) REQUEST FOR DELETION OF ADVERSE 12 ITEMS OF INFORMATION.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer who has 14 filed a report of economic hardship with the 15 Bureau may submit a request, without charge 16 to the consumer, to a consumer reporting agen- 17 cy to delete from the consumer’s file an adverse 18 item of information that was a result of an ac- 19 tion or inaction that occurred during the cov- 20 ered coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak 21 period or a covered major disaster period up to 22 270 days following the end of the such period. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 8 •S 3508 IS ‘‘(B) TIMING.—A consumer may submit a 1 request under subparagraph (A), not later than 2 270-day period described in that subparagraph. 3 ‘‘(C) REMOVAL AND NOTIFICATION.—Upon 4 receiving a request under this paragraph to de- 5 lete an adverse item of information, a consumer 6 reporting agency shall— 7 ‘‘(i) delete the adverse item of infor- 8 mation from the consumer’s file; and 9 ‘‘(ii) notify the consumer and the fur- 10 nisher of the adverse item of information 11 of the deletion. 12 ‘‘(g) FREE CREDIT REPORT AND SCORES.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During the covered 14 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak period or 15 a covered major disaster period and ending 12 16 months after the expiration of the covered 17 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak period or 18 covered major disaster period, as applicable, each 19 consumer reporting agency as described under 20 603(p) and nationwide specialty consumer reporting 21 agency shall make all disclosures described under 22 section 609 upon request by a consumer, by mail or 23 online, without charge to the consumer and without 24 limitation as to the number of requests. A consumer 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 9 •S 3508 IS reporting agency shall also supply a consumer, upon 1 request and without charge, with a credit score 2 that— 3 ‘‘(A) is derived from a credit scoring model 4 that is widely distributed to users by the con- 5 sumer reporting agency for the purpose of any 6 extension of credit or other transaction des- 7 ignated by the consumer who is requesting the 8 credit score; or 9 ‘‘(B) is widely distributed to lenders of 10 common consumer loan products and predicts 11 the future credit behavior of the consumer. 12 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—A file disclosure or credit score 13 under paragraph (1) shall be provided to the con- 14 sumer not later than— 15 ‘‘(A) 7 days after the date on which the re- 16 quest is received if the request is made by mail; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) not later than 15 minutes if the re- 19 quest is made online. 20 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—A file disclosure 21 provided under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to 22 any disclosure requested by the consumer under sec- 23 tion 612(a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508 10 •S 3508 IS ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION.—A consumer reporting 1 agency that receives a request under paragraph (1) 2 may not request or require any documentation from 3 the consumer that demonstrates that the consumer 4 was impacted by the coronavirus disease (COVID– 5 19) outbreak or a major disaster (except to verify 6 that the consumer resides in an area covered by the 7 major disaster) as a condition of receiving the file 8 disclosure or score. 9 ‘‘(h) POSTING OF RIGHTS.—Not later than 30 days 10 after the date of enactment of this section, each consumer 11 reporting agency shall prominently post and maintain a 12 direct link on the homepage of the public website of the 13 consumer reporting agency information relating to the 14 right of consumers to— 15 ‘‘(1) request the deletion of adverse items of in- 16 formation under subsection (f); and 17 ‘‘(2) request consumer file disclosures and 18 scores, without charge to the consumer, under sub- 19 section (g).’’. 20 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 21 The table of contents for the Fair Credit Reporting Act 22 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 23 605B the following: 24 ‘‘605C. Reporting of information during major disasters.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3508.IS S3508