[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6470 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6470
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to institute a 1-year waiting
period before medical debt will be reported on a consumer's credit
report and to remove paid-off and settled medical debts from credit
reports that have been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification of
medical debt and to increase the efficiency of credit markets with more
perfect information, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 7, 2020
Ms. Porter (for herself, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Sean Patrick
Maloney of New York, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Norton, Mrs.
Napolitano, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Clay, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Haaland, Ms.
Escobar, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Rush, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Velazquez, Mr.
Doggett, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr.
Kilmer, Mr. Correa, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Soto, Mr.
Espaillat, Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Ryan,
Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Takano, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Clarke of New York,
Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Meng, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Omar, Mr. Ted
Lieu of California, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Malinowski, Mrs.
Kirkpatrick, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Levin of
California, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Cohen, Ms.
Adams, Mr. Rouda, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Mr. Harder of California, Mr. McEachin, Ms. Slotkin, Mr.
Kennedy, and Ms. Craig) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to institute a 1-year waiting
period before medical debt will be reported on a consumer's credit
report and to remove paid-off and settled medical debts from credit
reports that have been fully paid or settled, to amend the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act to provide a timetable for verification of
medical debt and to increase the efficiency of credit markets with more
perfect information, 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 ``Medical Debt Relief Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.
(a) Medical Debt Defined.--Section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(bb) Medical Debt.--The term `medical debt' means a debt
described in section 604(g)(1)(C).''.
(b) Exclusion for Paid or Settled Medical Debt.--Section 605(a) of
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``(9) Any information relating to a medical debt if the date on
which the debt was placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or
subjected to any similar action antedates the report by less than 1
year.
``(10) Any information relating to a fully paid or settled medical
debt that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in
collection which, from the date of payment or settlement, antedates the
report by more than 45 days.''.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT.
(a) In General.--Section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act (15 U.S.C. 1692g) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Additional Notice Requirements for Medical Debt.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Consumer reporting agency.--The term
`consumer reporting agency' has the meaning given the
term in section 603(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting
Act.
``(B) Medical debt.--The term `medical debt' means
a debt arising from the receipt of medical services,
products, or devices.
``(2) Notice about credit reporting.--Before furnishing
information regarding a medical debt of a consumer to a
consumer reporting agency, the person furnishing the
information shall send a statement to the consumer that
includes the following:
``(A) A notification that the medical debt may not
be reported to a consumer reporting agency until the
end of the 1-year period beginning on the date on which
the person sends the statement.
``(B) The specific date that is the end of the 1-
year period beginning on the date on which the person
sends the statement.
``(C) A notification that, if the debt is settled
or paid by the consumer or an insurance company during
the 1-year period beginning on the date on which the
person sends the statement--
``(i) the debt may not be reported to a
consumer reporting agency; and
``(ii) the consumer may, during that 1-year
period--
``(I) communicate with an insurance
company to determine coverage for the
debt; or
``(II) apply for financial
assistance.
``(3) No reporting during 1-year period.--
``(A) In general.--During the 1-year period
described in paragraph (2), no person may communicate
with, or report any information to, any consumer
reporting agency regarding a debt described in that
paragraph.
``(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in
subparagraph (A) may be construed to affect when a debt
collector may engage in activities to collect or
attempt to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to
be owed.
``(4) Reporting after the 1-year period.--Nothing in this
subsection shall prohibit a person from communicating with, or
reporting any information to, a consumer reporting agency
regarding a medical debt of a consumer after the end of the 1-
year period described in paragraph (2) with respect to the
debt.''.
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