I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2374 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 12, 2009 Mr. Rodriguez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to make credit scores available to consumers once each year free of charge and to allow consumers to see the credit score used in connection with any particular lending or credit decision, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Credit Score Fairness Act of 2009.
2.
Credit scores
(a)
Free annual disclosure
Section 609(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (U.S.C. 1681g) is amended by striking paragraph (8) and inserting the following new paragraph: (8)
Cost of disclosure
(A)
Free annual disclosure
Each consumer reporting agency shall make all the information required under this subsection with respect to any consumer available to the consumer, upon request, once during any 12-month period without charge. (B)
Fair and reasonable fee
After providing 1 free credit score under subparagraph (A) to any consumer during any 12-month period, a consumer reporting agency may charge such consumer a fair and reasonable fee, as determined by the Commission, for providing the information required under this subsection to the consumer during such period. . (b)
Disclosure of credit score used in making any consumer credit decision
Section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (U.S.C. 1681g) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (h)
Disclosure of consumer credit scores by certain other creditors
(1)
In general
Each creditor which extends credit to consumers, other than a creditor to which subsection (g) applies with respect to credit described in paragraph (1) of such subsection, shall provide the following to any consumer as soon as reasonably practicable: (A)
Information required under subsection (f)
A copy of any information identified in subsection (f) that was obtained from a consumer reporting agency or was developed and used by the user of the information in making any determination with respect to extending credit to the consumer, including any consumer-specific determination to solicit or provide an application to such consumer, whether or not such credit was ever extended or any open end consumer credit plan was ever opened under which such credit would be, or would have been, extended. (B)
Disclosures of credit scores not obtained from a consumer reporting agency
A creditor which is subject to the requirements of this subsection and uses a credit score, other than a credit score provided by a consumer reporting agency, may satisfy the obligation to provide a credit score by disclosing a credit score and associated key factors supplied by a consumer reporting agency. (2)
Actions not required under this subsection
This subsection shall not require any person to— (A)explain the information provided pursuant to subsection (f) of this section; (B)disclose any information other than a credit score or key factors, as defined in subsection (f); (C)disclose any credit score or related information obtained by the creditor after the consumer credit transaction has been consummated; (D)provide more than 1 disclosure per credit transaction; or (E)provide the disclosure required by this subsection when another person has made the disclosure to the consumer for that loan transaction. (3)
No obligation for content
(A)
In general
The obligation of any person pursuant to this subsection shall be limited solely to providing a copy of the information that was received from the consumer reporting agency. (B)
Limit on liability
No person shall be liable under this subsection for the content of that information or for the omission of any information within the report provided by the consumer reporting agency. (4)
No cost to consumer
The information required to be disclosed under this subsection shall be provided without charge to the consumer. .