[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4395 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4395

To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to prohibit 
     a lender from requiring a borrower in a residential mortgage 
    transaction to provide the lender with unlimited access to the 
                   borrower's tax return information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 4, 1998

  Ms. Rivers introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to prohibit 
     a lender from requiring a borrower in a residential mortgage 
    transaction to provide the lender with unlimited access to the 
                   borrower's tax return information.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Real Estate Transaction Privacy 
Promotion Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION.

    The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (12 U.S.C. 2601 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 12 the following new 
section:

``SEC. 13. PROHIBITION OF REQUIRING OPEN-ENDED ACCESS TO BORROWER'S TAX 
              RECORDS.

    ``No person may require, as a condition of making a federally 
related mortgage loan, that the borrower or prospective borrower 
provide to any person a copy of Form 4506 of the Internal Revenue 
Service (relating to a request for copy or transcript of tax form), or 
any successor to such form, that is signed by the borrower or 
prospective borrower, unless the form--
            ``(1) is fully completed before signing by the borrower;
            ``(2) specifically requests tax information for not more 
        than the 2 tax periods most recently completed as of the date 
        that the form is signed; and
            ``(3) is completed, signed, and dated not later than the 
        date of settlement involving such loan.''.

SEC. 3. PENALTIES.

    Section 8(d) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 
(12 U.S.C. 2607(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``or section 13'' after 
        ``this section''; and
            (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``or section 13'' before 
        the period at the end.

SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF COURTS.

    Section 16 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (12 
U.S.C. 2614) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or 9'' the first place it appears and 
        inserting ``9, or 13''; and
            (2) by striking ``or 9'' the second place it appears and 
        inserting ``, 9, or 13''.

SEC. 5. SPECIAL INFORMATION BOOKLETS.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, by notice in the 
Federal Register, revise the special information booklet prepared by 
the Secretary pursuant to section 5 of the Real Estate Settlement 
Procedures Act of 1974 to include in such booklet information 
explaining the prohibition and penalties under the amendments made by 
this Act.
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