Disaster Protection for Workers’ Credit Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6370 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for disaster protection for workers’ credit. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 23, 2020 Mr. SHERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 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’’. 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 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6370 IH 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) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The 10 term ‘COVID–19 emergency period’ means the pe- 11 riod beginning on the date of enactment of this sec- 12 tion and ending on the later of— 13 ‘‘(A) 120 days after the date of enactment 14 of this section; or 15 ‘‘(B) 120 days after the date of termi- 16 nation by the Federal Emergency Management 17 Administration of the emergency declared on 18 March 13, 2020, by the President under the 19 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 20 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) 21 relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 22 (COVID-19) pandemic. 23 ‘‘(2) COVERED MAJOR DISASTER PERIOD.—The 24 term ‘covered major disaster period’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6370 IH ‘‘(A) the period beginning on the date on 1 which a major disaster is declared by the Presi- 2 dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Staf- 3 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), under which assistance 5 is authorized under section 408 of such Act (42 6 U.S.C. 5174), and ending on the date that is 7 120 days after the end of the incident period 8 designated in such declaration; or 9 ‘‘(B) the period ending 120 days after the 10 date of termination by the Federal Emergency 11 Management Administration of the emergency 12 declared on March 13, 2020, by the President 13 under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 14 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 15 et seq.) relating to the Coronavirus Disease 16 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 17 ‘‘(3) MAJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘major dis- 18 aster’ means a major disaster declared by the Presi- 19 dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 20 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 21 U.S.C. 5170), under which assistance is authorized 22 under section 408 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5174). 23 ‘‘(b) MORATORIUM ON FURNISHING ADVERSE IN- 24 FORMATION DURING COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6370 IH No person may furnish any adverse item of information 1 (except information related to a felony criminal conviction) 2 relating to a consumer that was the result of any action 3 or inaction that occurred during the COVID–19 emer- 4 gency period. 5 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM ON FURNISHING ADVERSE INFOR- 6 MATION DURING COVERED MAJOR DISASTER PERIOD.— 7 No person may furnish any adverse item of information 8 (except information related to a felony criminal conviction) 9 relating to a consumer that was the result of any action 10 or inaction that occurred during a covered major disaster 11 period if the consumer is a resident of the affected area 12 covered by a declaration made by the President under sec- 13 tion 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 14 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), under which 15 assistance is authorized under section 408 of such Act (42 16 U.S.C. 5174). 17 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION EXCLUDED FROM CONSUMER 18 REPORTS.—In addition to the information described in 19 section 605(a), no consumer reporting agency may make 20 any consumer report containing an adverse item of infor- 21 mation (except information related to a felony criminal 22 conviction) reported relating to a consumer that was the 23 result of any action or inaction that occurred during the 24 COVID–19 emergency period or a covered major disaster 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6370 IH period, and as applicable under subsection (f)(3), for 270 1 days after the expiration of the applicable period. 2 ‘‘(e) SUMMARY OF RIGHTS.—Not later than 60 days 3 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Bureau 4 shall update the model summary of rights under section 5 609(c)(1) to include a description of the right of a con- 6 sumer to— 7 ‘‘(1) request the deletion of adverse items of in- 8 formation under subsection (f); and 9 ‘‘(2) request a consumer report or score, with- 10 out charge to the consumer, under subsection (g). 11 ‘‘(f) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFORMA- 12 TION RESULTING FROM THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 13 (COVID–19) OUTBREAK AND MAJOR DISASTERS.— 14 ‘‘(1) REPORTING.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 16 days after the date of enactment of this sub- 17 section, the Bureau shall create a website for 18 consumers to report, under penalty of perjury, 19 economic hardship as a result of the 20 coronavirus disease (COVID–19) outbreak or a 21 major disaster (if the consumer is a resident of 22 the affected area covered by such major dis- 23 aster) for the purpose of extending credit report 24 protection for an additional 270 days after the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6370 IH end of the COVID–19 emergency period or cov- 1 ered major disaster period, as applicable. 2 ‘‘(B) DOCUMENTATION.—The Bureau 3 shall— 4 ‘‘(i) not require any documentation 5 from a consumer to substantiate the eco- 6 nomic hardship; and 7 ‘‘(ii) provide notice to the consumer 8 that a report under subparagraph (A) is 9 under penalty of perjury. 10 ‘‘(C) REPORTING PERIOD.—A consumer 11 may report economic hardship under subpara- 12 graph (A) during the COVID–19 emergency pe- 13 riod or a covered major disaster period, as ap- 14 plicable, and for 60 days thereafter. 15 ‘‘(2) DATABASE.—The Bureau shall establish 16 and maintain a secure database that— 17 ‘‘(A) is accessible to each consumer report- 18 ing agency described in section 603(p) and na- 19 tionwide specialty consumer reporting agency 20 for purposes of fulfilling their duties under 21 paragraph (3) to check and automatically delete 22 any adverse item of information (except infor- 23 mation related to a felony criminal conviction) 24 reported that occurred during the COVID–19 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6370 IH emergency period or a covered major disaster 1 period with respect to a consumer; and 2 ‘‘(B) contains the information reported 3 under paragraph (1). 4 ‘‘(3) DELETION OF ADVERSE ITEMS OF INFOR- 5 MATION BY NATIONWIDE CONSUMER REPORTING 6 AND NATIONWIDE SPECIALTY CONSUMER REPORT- 7 ING AGENCIES.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each consumer re- 9 porting agency described in section 603(p) and 10 each nationwide specialty consumer reporting 11 agency shall, using the information contained in 12 the database established under paragraph (2), 13 delete from the file of each consumer named in 14 the database each adverse item of information 15 (except information related to a felony criminal 16 conviction) that was a result of an action or in- 17 action that occurred during the COVID–19 18 emergency period or a covered major disaster 19 period up to 270 days following the end of the 20 such period. 21 ‘‘(B) TIMELINE.—Each consumer report- 22 ing agency described in section 603(p) and each 23 nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency 24 shall check the database at least weekly and de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6370 IH lete adverse items of information as soon as 1 practicable after information that is reported 2 under paragraph (1) appears in the database 3 established under paragraph (2). 4 ‘‘(4) REQUEST FOR DELETION OF ADVERSE 5 ITEMS OF INFORMATION.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A consumer who has 7 filed a report of economic hardship with the 8 Bureau may submit a request, without charge 9 to the consumer, to a consumer reporting agen- 10 cy to delete from the consumer’s file an adverse 11 item of information (except information related 12 to a felony criminal conviction) that was a re- 13 sult of an action or inaction that occurred dur- 14 ing the COVID–19 emergency period or a cov- 15 ered major disaster period up to 270 days fol- 16 lowing the end of the such period. 17 ‘‘(B) TIMING.—A consumer may submit a 18 request under subparagraph (A), not later than 19 270-day period described in that subparagraph. 20 ‘‘(C) REMOVAL AND NOTIFICATION.—Upon 21 receiving a request under this paragraph to de- 22 lete an adverse item of information, a consumer 23 reporting agency shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6370 IH ‘‘(i) delete the adverse item of infor- 1 mation (except information related to a fel- 2 ony criminal conviction) from the con- 3 sumer’s file; and 4 ‘‘(ii) notify the consumer and the fur- 5 nisher of the adverse item of information 6 of the deletion. 7 ‘‘(g) FREE CREDIT REPORT AND SCORES.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During the COVID–19 9 emergency period or a covered major disaster period 10 and ending 12 months after the expiration of the 11 COVID–19 emergency period or covered major dis- 12 aster period, as applicable, each consumer reporting 13 agency as described under 603(p) and nationwide 14 specialty consumer reporting agency shall make all 15 disclosures described under section 609 upon request 16 by a consumer, by mail or online, without charge to 17 the consumer and without limitation as to the num- 18 ber of requests. A consumer reporting agency shall 19 also supply a consumer, upon request and without 20 charge, with a credit score that— 21 ‘‘(A) is derived from a credit scoring model 22 that is widely distributed to users by the con- 23 sumer reporting agency for the purpose of any 24 extension of credit or other transaction des- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6370 IH ignated by the consumer who is requesting the 1 credit score; or 2 ‘‘(B) is widely distributed to lenders of 3 common consumer loan products and predicts 4 the future credit behavior of the consumer. 5 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—A file disclosure or credit score 6 under paragraph (1) shall be provided to the con- 7 sumer not later than— 8 ‘‘(A) 7 days after the date on which the re- 9 quest is received if the request is made by mail; 10 and 11 ‘‘(B) not later than 15 minutes if the re- 12 quest is made online. 13 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—A file disclosure 14 provided under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to 15 any disclosure requested by the consumer under sec- 16 tion 612(a). 17 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION.—A consumer reporting 18 agency that receives a request under paragraph (1) 19 may not request or require any documentation from 20 the consumer that demonstrates that the consumer 21 was impacted by the coronavirus disease (COVID– 22 19) outbreak or a major disaster (except to verify 23 that the consumer resides in an area covered by the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6370 IH major disaster) as a condition of receiving the file 1 disclosure or score. 2 ‘‘(h) POSTING OF RIGHTS.—Not later than 30 days 3 after the date of enactment of this section, each consumer 4 reporting agency shall prominently post and maintain a 5 direct link on the homepage of the public website of the 6 consumer reporting agency information relating to the 7 right of consumers to— 8 ‘‘(1) request the deletion of adverse items of in- 9 formation (except information related to a felony 10 criminal conviction) under subsection (f); and 11 ‘‘(2) request consumer file disclosures and 12 scores, without charge to the consumer, under sub- 13 section (g). 14 ‘‘(i) BAN ON REPORTING MEDICAL DEBT INFORMA- 15 TION RELATED TO COVID–19 OR A MAJOR DISASTER.— 16 ‘‘(1) FURNISHING BAN.—No person shall fur- 17 nish adverse information to a consumer reporting 18 agency related to medical debt if such medical debt 19 is with respect to medical expenses related to treat- 20 ments arising from COVID–19 or a major disaster 21 (whether or not the expenses were incurred during 22 the COVID–19 emergency period or covered major 23 disaster period). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:23 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6370.IH H6370 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6370 IH ‘‘(2) CONSUMER REPORT BAN.—No consumer 1 reporting agency may made a consumer report con- 2 taining adverse information related to medical debt 3 if such medical debt is with respect to medical ex- 4 penses related to treatments arising from COVID– 5 19 or a major disaster (whether or not the expenses 6 were incurred during the COVID–19 emergency pe- 7 riod or covered major disaster period). 8 ‘‘(j) CREDIT SCORING MODELS.—A person that cre- 9 ates and implements credit scoring models may not treat 10 the absence, omission, or deletion of any information pur- 11 suant to this section as a negative factor or negative value 12 in credit scoring models created or implemented by such 13 person.’’. 14 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 15 The table of contents for the Fair Credit Reporting Act 16 is amended [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]