[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5445 Introduced in House (IH)]


109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5445

    To provide clarification relating to credit monitoring services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2006

    Mr. Price of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Bachus, and Mr. Scott of 
   Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide clarification relating to credit monitoring services.

    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 ``Credit Repair Organizations Act 
Technical Corrections Act''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION RELATING TO CREDIT MONITORING SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 403 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 
(15 U.S.C. 1679a) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``For purposes of this title'' and 
        inserting ``(a) In General.--For purposes of this title''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Clarification With Respect to Certain Credit Monitoring 
Services Under Certain Circumstances.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2)--
                    ``(A) the provision of, or provision of access to, 
                credit reports, credit monitoring notifications, credit 
                scores and scoring algorithms, and other credit score-
                related tools to a consumer (including generation of 
                projections and forecasts of such consumer's potential 
                credit scores under various prospective trends or 
                hypothetical or alternative scenarios);
                    ``(B) any analysis, evaluation, and explanation of 
                such actual or hypothetical credit scores, or any 
                similar projections, forecasts, analyses, evaluations 
                or explanations; or
                    ``(C) in conjunction with offering any of the 
                services described in subparagraph (A) or B, the 
                provision of materials or services to assist a consumer 
                who is a victim of identity theft,
        shall not be treated as activities described in clause (i) of 
        subsection (a)(3)(A).
            ``(2) Conditions for application of paragraph (1).--
        Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to any person engaging 
        in any activity described in such paragraph only if--
                    ``(A) the person does not represent, expressly or 
                by implication, that such person--
                            ``(i) will or can modify or remove, or 
                        assist the consumer in modifying or removing, 
                        adverse information that is accurate and not 
                        obsolete in the consumer's credit report; or
                            ``(ii) will or can alter, or assist the 
                        consumer in altering, the consumer's 
                        identification to prevent the display of the 
                        consumer's credit record, history, or rating 
                        for the purpose of concealing adverse 
                        information that is accurate and not obsolete;
                    ``(B) in any case in which the person represents, 
                expressly or by implication, that it will or can modify 
                or remove, or assist the consumer in modifying or 
                removing, any information in the consumer's credit 
                report, except for a representation with respect to any 
                requirement imposed on the person under section 611 or 
                623(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the person 
                discloses, clearly and conspicuously, before the 
                consumer pays or agrees to pay any money or other 
                valuable consideration to such person, whichever occurs 
                first, the following statement:
                                    `NOTICE: Neither you nor anyone 
                                else has the right to have accurate and 
                                current information removed from your 
                                credit report. If information in your 
                                report is inaccurate, you have the 
                                right to dispute it by contacting the 
                                credit bureau directly.'.
                    ``(C) the person provides the consumer in writing 
                with the following statement before any contract or 
                agreement between the consumer and the person is 
                executed:
                                    `Your Rights Concerning Your 
                                Consumer Credit File
                                    `You have a right to obtain a free 
                                copy of your credit report once every 
                                12 months from each of the nationwide 
                                consumer reporting agencies. To request 
                                your free annual credit
                                report, you may go to 
                                www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 
                                877-322-8228, or complete the Annual 
                                Credit Report Request Form and mail it 
                                to: Annual Credit Report Request 
                                Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 
                                30348-5281. You can obtain additional 
                                copies of your credit report from a 
                                credit bureau, for which you may be 
                                charged a reasonable fee. There is no 
                                fee, however, if you have been turned 
                                down for credit, employment, insurance, 
                                or a rental dwelling because of 
                                information in your credit report 
                                within the preceding 60 days. The 
                                credit bureau must provide someone to 
                                help you interpret the information in 
                                your credit file. You are entitled to 
                                receive a free copy of your credit 
                                report if you are unemployed and intend 
                                to apply for employment in the next 60 
                                days, if you are a recipient of public 
                                welfare assistance, or if you have 
                                reason to believe that there is 
                                inaccurate information in your credit 
                                report due to fraud.
                                    `You have the right to cancel your 
                                contract with a credit monitoring 
                                service without fee or penalty at any 
                                time, and in the case in which you have 
                                prepaid for a credit monitoring 
                                service, you are entitled to a pro rata 
                                refund for the remaining term of the 
                                credit monitoring service.
                                    `The Federal Trade Commission 
                                regulates credit bureaus and credit 
                                monitoring services. For more 
                                information contact:
                                    `Federal Trade Commission
                                    `Washington, D.C. 20580
                                    `1-877-FTC-HELP
                                    `www.ftc.gov'.
                    ``(D) in any case in which the person offers a 
                subscription to a credit file monitoring program to a 
                consumer, the consumer may cancel the subscription at 
                any time upon written notice to the person without 
                penalty or fee for such cancellation and, in any case 
                in which the consumer is billed for the subscription on 
                other than a monthly basis, within 60 days of receipt 
                of the consumer's notice of cancellation, the person 
                shall make a pro rata refund to the consumer of a 
                subscription fee prepaid by the consumer, calculated 
                from the date that the person receives the consumer's 
                notice of cancellation until the end of the 
                subscription period.''.
    (b) Clarification of Nonexempt Status.--Section 403(a) of the 
Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679a) (as so redesignated 
by subsection (a) of this section) is amended by striking clause (i) of 
paragraph (3)(B) and inserting the following new clause:
                            ``(i) any organization that is not for its 
                        own profit or for that of its members;''.
    (c) Revision of Disclosure Requirement.--Section 405(a) of the 
Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679c) is amended by 
striking everything after the heading of the disclosure statement 
contained in such section and inserting the following new text of the 
disclosure statement:
            ``You have a right to dispute inaccurate information in 
        your credit report by contacting the credit bureau directly. 
        However, neither you nor any `credit repair' company or credit 
        repair organization has the right to have accurate, current, 
        and verifiable information removed from your credit report. The 
        credit bureau must remove accurate, negative information from 
        your report only if it is over 7 years old. Bankruptcy 
        information can be reported for 10 years.
            ``You have a right to obtain a free copy of your credit 
        report once every 12 months from each of the nationwide 
        consumer reporting agencies. To request your free annual credit 
        report, you may go to www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 877-
        322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and 
        mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 
        105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You can obtain additional 
        copies of your credit report from a credit bureau, for which 
        you may be charged a reasonable fee. There is no fee, however, 
        if you have been turned down for credit, employment, insurance, 
        or a rental dwelling because of information in your credit 
        report within the preceding 60 days. The credit bureau must 
        provide someone to help you interpret the information in your 
        credit file. You are entitled to receive a free copy of your 
        credit report if you are unemployed and intend to apply for 
        employment in the next 60 days, if you are a recipient of 
        public welfare assistance, or if you have reason to believe 
        that there is inaccurate information in your credit report due 
        to fraud.
            ``You have a right to sue a credit repair organization that 
        violates the Credit Repair Organization Act. This law prohibits 
        deceptive practices by credit repair organizations.
            ``You have the right to cancel your contract with any 
        credit repair organization for any reason within 3 business 
        days from the date you signed it.
            ``Credit bureaus are required to follow reasonable 
        procedures to ensure that the information they report is 
        accurate. However, mistakes may occur.
            ``You may, on your own, notify a credit bureau in writing 
        that you dispute the accuracy of information in your credit 
        file. The credit bureau must then reinvestigate and modify or 
        remove inaccurate or incomplete information. The credit bureau 
        may not charge any fee for this service. Any pertinent 
        information and copies of all documents you have concerning an 
        error should be given to the credit bureau.
            ``If the credit bureau's reinvestigation does not resolve 
        the dispute to your satisfaction, you may send a brief 
        statement to the credit bureau, to be kept in your file, 
        explaining why you think the record is inaccurate. The credit 
        bureau must include a summary of your statement about disputed 
        information with any report it issues about you.
            ``The Federal Trade Commission regulates credit bureaus and 
        credit repair organizations. For more information contact:
            ``Federal Trade Commission
            ``Washington, D.C. 20580
            ``1-877-FTC-HELP
            ``(877 382-4357)
            ``www.ftc.gov''.
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