[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION ACT OF 2000

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                          HON. DARLENE HOOLEY

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 13, 2000

  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the bipartisan 
Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2000. Identity theft has become the 
latest coast to coast crime wave. This bill includes common sense 
measures that will allow consumers to work with creditors and credit 
bureaus to combat this growing problem.
  Identity theft occurs whenever someone uses your name, social 
security number, mothers maiden name, or any personally identifiable 
information to purchase goods or services--usually with credit cards. 
Victims of identity theft never realize they are victims until they 
receive a bill in the mail, or even worse, a notice from a collection 
agency for a purchase they never made on a credit card in their name 
that they don't even own.
  While credit issuers have been willing to refund fraudulent charges, 
victims are still faced with problems of ruined or destroyed credit, 
the time commitments of redeeming their name with multiple credit 
bureaus and credit issuers, and the fear and anxiety associated with 
knowing that someone is using all of their personal information to 
charge any manner of goods. As a result of identity theft, victims have 
been turned down for jobs, mortgages, and other important extensions of 
credit.
  Identity theft is a growing problem. Just look at the following 
statistics: Trans Union credit bureau's fraud victim assistance unit 
received just 35,235 complaints in 1992 but in 1997 received 522,922. 
That's a 1,400 percent increase! The Privacy Rights Clearing House 
estimates that there will be 400,000 to 500,000 new cases of ID fraud 
this year and the Federal Trade Commission's 1-800 number for ID theft 
receives an average of 400 calls a week from people like my constituent 
Paul LaLiBerte, from Clackamas, Oregon, who has been a victim of 
identity theft twice. One of those thousands of calls stated, ``Someone 
is using my name and social security number to open credit card 
accounts. All the accounts are in collections. I had no idea this was 
happening until I applied for a mortgage. Because these ``bad'' 
accounts showed up on my credit report, I didn't get the mortgage.'' 
May 18, 1999.
  This bill attempts to address these problems by empowering consumers 
and asking creditors and credit bureaus to do their part to combat 
fraud.
  For instance, the bill requires that any time a creditor receives a 
change of address form, the creditor send back a confirmation to both 
the new and the old addresses. That way, if a thief attempts to change 
your billing address so you won't find out about fraudulent charges--
you'll know.
  The bill also requires credit bureaus to investigate discrepancies in 
addresses, to make sure that the address for the consumer that they 
have on file is not the address provided by the identity thief.
  This bill codifies the practice of placing fraud alerts on a 
consumer's credit file and gives the Federal Trade Commission the 
authority to impose fines against credit issuers that ignore the alert. 
Too many credit issuers are presently ignoring fraud alerts to the 
detriment of identity theft victims. It also requires that fraud alerts 
are placed on all information reported by a credit bureau, including 
credit scores. Often when a credit score is issued without a full 
report, the fraud alert does not show up.
  This legislation also gives consumers more access to the personal 
information collected about them, which is a critical tool in combating 
identity theft, by requiring that every consumer across the nation have 
access to one free credit report annually. Currently, six States--
Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, and New Jersey--
have such statutes. This act makes one free credit report a national 
requirement. In addition, consumers could review the personal 
information collected about them by individual reference services. With 
greater access to their own personal information, consumers can 
proactively check their records for evidence of identity theft and 
uncover other errors.
  The bill also restricts the type of information a credit bureau can 
sell to marketers to your name and address only. Currently credit 
bureaus can sell such personally identifiable information as your 
social security number or mother's maiden name. This sensitive 
information would be treated under this bill like any other part of the 
credit report, with its disclosure restricted to businesses needing the 
data for extensions of credit, employment applications, insurance 
applications, or other permissible purposes.
  I am introducing the Identity Theft Prevention Act with 
Representative Steve LaTourette (R-OH) and twelve other cosponsors. 
This bill has been endorsed by Public Citizen and the Privacy Rights 
Clearinghouse, and is a companion bill to S. 2328 offered by Senators 
Feinstein, Kyl, and Shelby. It is my hope that the House Banking 
Committee will take up consideration of this bill and that we can soon 
bring it to the floor for a vote by the entire Congress.

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