[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3053 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3053
To prevent identity theft, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 5, 2001
Ms. Hooley of Oregon (for herself, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr.
McGovern, Mr. Lantos, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Capuano, Mr.
McNulty, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Baldacci, Mrs. Maloney of New
York, Mr. Bentsen, Mr. Frost, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Slaughter,
Mr. Wexler, Mr. Ney, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Langevin, and Mr. Sherman)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent identity theft, and for other purposes.
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 ``Identity Theft Prevention Act of
2001''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the crime of identity theft has become one of the major
law enforcement challenges of the new economy, as vast
quantities of sensitive, personal information are now
vulnerable to criminal interception and misuse;
(2) a number of indicators reveal that, despite increased
public awareness of the crime, the incidents of identity theft
continue to rise;
(3) 1,000,000 consumers annually call the Fraud Victim
Assistance Department of one national consumer reporting
agency, a number that almost doubled from 1997 to 2001;
(4) as of March 2001, the Federal Trade Commission Identity
Theft Data Clearinghouse was averaging more than 2,000 call-ins
a week, a four-fold increase since the Clearinghouse began
operation in November 1999;
(5) allegations of identity theft reported to the fraud
hotline of the Social Security Administration increased from
11,058 in fiscal year 1998 to 46,480 in fiscal year 2000;
(6) in its fiscal year 2000 annual report, the Postal
Inspection Service noted that identity theft is a growing trend
and the agency's investigations of such crimes has ``increased
by 67 percent since last year'';
(7) an integral part of many identity crimes involves the
interception of personal financial data or the fraudulent
acquisition of credit cards and other financial products in
another person's name;
(8) identity theft is an act that violates the privacy of
our citizens and ruins their good names, victims can suffer
restricted access to credit and diminished employment
opportunities, and may spend years repairing damage to credit
histories;
(9) the resources available to identity theft victims are
inadequate, and both private sector and Federal agencies should
provide better and more sympathetic assistance to such victims;
and
(10) credit reporting agencies and issuers of credit should
have uniform reporting requirements and effective fraud alerts
to assist identity theft victims in repairing and protecting
their credit.
SEC. 3. IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION.
(a) Changes of Address.--
(1) Duty of issuers of credit.--Section 132 of the Truth in
Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1642) is amended--
(A) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``No
credit''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Confirmation of Changes of Address.--If a card issuer
receives a request for an additional credit card with respect to an
existing credit account not later than 30 days after receiving
notification of a change of address for that account, the card issuer
shall--
``(1) not later than 5 days after sending the additional
card to the new address, notify the cardholder of the request
at both the new address and the former address; and
``(2) provide to the cardholder a means of promptly
reporting incorrect changes.''.
(2) Duty of consumer reporting agencies.--Section 605 of
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(g) Notice of Potential Fraud.--In any case in which a person has
requested a consumer report relating to a consumer, and the request
includes an address for the consumer that differs from the most recent
address in the file of the consumer, the consumer reporting agency
shall notify the requester of the discrepancy.''.
(3) Enforcement.--
(A) Federal trade commission.--Except as provided
in subparagraph (B), compliance with section 132(b) of
the Truth in Lending Act (as added by this subsection)
shall be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission in
the same manner and with the same power and authority
as the Commission has under the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act to enforce compliance with that Act.
(B) Other agencies in certain cases.--
(i) In general.--Compliance with section
132(b) of the Truth in Lending Act (as added by
this subsection) shall be enforced under--
(I) section 8 of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Act, in the case of a
card issuer that is--
(aa) a national bank or a
Federal branch or Federal
agency of a foreign bank, by
the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency;
(bb) a member bank of the
Federal Reserve System (other
than a national bank), a branch
or agency of a foreign bank
(other than a Federal branch,
Federal agency, or insured
State branch of a foreign
bank), a commercial lending
company owned or controlled by
a foreign bank, or an
organization operating under
section 25 or 25A of the
Federal Reserve Act, by the
Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System;
(cc) a bank insured by the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (other than a
member of the Federal Reserve
System or a national nonmember
bank) or an insured State
branch of a foreign bank, by
the Board of Directors of the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation; and
(dd) a savings association,
the deposits of which are
insured by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, by the
Director of the Office of
Thrift Supervision; and
(II) the Federal Credit Union Act,
by the Administrator of the National
Credit Union Administration in the case
of a card issuer that is a Federal
credit union, as defined in that Act.
(C) Violations treated as violations of other
laws.--For the purpose of the exercise by any agency
referred to in this paragraph of its powers under any
Act referred to in this paragraph, a violation of
section 132(b) of the Truth in Lending Act (as added by
this subsection) shall be deemed to be a violation of a
requirement imposed under that Act. In addition to its
powers under any provision of law specifically referred
to in subparagraph (A) or (B), each of the agencies
referred to in those subparagraphs may exercise, for
the purpose of enforcing compliance with section 132(b)
of the Truth in Lending Act (as added by this
subsection), any other authority conferred on such
agency by law.
(b) Fraud Alerts.--Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15
U.S.C. 1681c) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Fraud Alerts.--
``(1) In general.--Upon the request of a consumer and upon
receiving proper identification, a consumer reporting agency
shall include a fraud alert in the file of that consumer.
``(2) Notice to users.--A consumer reporting agency shall
notify each person procuring consumer credit information with
respect to a consumer of the existence of a fraud alert in the
file of that consumer, regardless of whether a full credit
report, credit score, or summary report is requested.
``(3) Penalties.--Any user of a consumer report that fails
to comply with preauthorization procedures contained in a fraud
alert and issues or extends credit in the name of the consumer
to a person other than the consumer, shall be in violation of
this section.
``(4) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `fraud
alert' means a clear and conspicuous statement in the file of a
consumer that notifies all prospective users of a consumer
report made with respect to that consumer that the consumer
does not authorize the issuance or extension of credit in the
name of the consumer unless--
``(A) the issuer of such credit first obtains
verbal authorization from the consumer at a telephone
number designated by the consumer; or
``(B) the issuer complies with such other method of
preauthorization by the consumer as is mutually agreed
upon by the consumer and the consumer reporting
agency.''.
(c) Rules on Complaint Referral, Investigations, and Inquiries.--
Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Federal Trade Commission (in this subsection referred to as the
``Commission'') shall promulgate rules in accordance with section 553
of title 5, United States Code--
(1) to require each consumer reporting agency (as defined
in section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act) to investigate
discrepancies between personal or identifying information
contained in the file maintained by the agency with respect to
a consumer and in the personal and identifying information
supplied to the agency by the user of the consumer report;
(2) to develop procedures for referral of consumer
complaints about identity theft and fraud alerts between and
among the consumer reporting agencies and the Commission; and
(3) to develop a model form and standard procedures to be
used by consumers who are victims of identity fraud for
contacting and informing creditors and consumer reporting
agencies of the fraud.
SEC. 4. TRUNCATION OF CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT NUMBERS.
(a) In General.--Except as provided in this section, no person,
firm, partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability
company that accepts credit cards for the transaction of business shall
print more than the last 5 digits of the credit card account number or
the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder.
(b) Limitation.--This section applies only to receipts that are
electronically printed, and does not apply to transactions in which the
sole means of recording the person's credit card account number is by
handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the credit card.
(c) Effective Date.--This section shall become effective on--
(1) January 1, 2006, with respect to any cash register or
other machine or device that electronically prints receipts for
credit card transactions that is in use before January 1, 2003;
and
(2) January 1, 2003, with respect to any cash register or
other machine or device that electronically prints receipts for
credit card transactions that is first put into use on or after
January 1, 2003.
(d) Effect on State Law.--Nothing in this section prevents a State
from imposing requirements that are the same or substantially similar
to the requirements of this section at any time before the effective
date of this section.
SEC. 5. FREE REPORTS ANNUALLY.
Section 612(c) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C.
1681j(c)) is amended to read as follows:
``(c) Free Annual Disclosure.--Upon the request of the consumer, a
consumer reporting agency shall make all disclosures pursuant to
section 609 once during any 12-month period without charge to the
consumer.''.
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