[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 25, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3220-S3221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4225. Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Booker)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S.
2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle I of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1097. MILITARY FAMILIES CREDIT REPORTING ACT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Military Families Credit Reporting Act''.
(b) Notice of Status as an Active Duty Military Consumer.--
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is
amended--
(1) in section 605 (15 U.S.C. 1681c), by adding at the end
the following:
``(i) Notice of Status as an Active Duty Military
Consumer.--
``(1) In general.--With respect to an item of adverse
information about a consumer that arises from the failure of
the consumer to make any required payment on a debt or other
obligation, if the action or inaction that gave rise to the
item occurred while the consumer was an active duty military
consumer, the consumer may provide appropriate proof,
including official orders, to a consumer reporting agency
that the consumer was an active duty military consumer at the
time such action or inaction occurred, and any consumer
report provided by the consumer reporting agency that
includes the item shall clearly and conspicuously disclose
that the consumer was an active duty military consumer when
the action or inaction that gave rise to the item occurred.
``(2) Model form.--The Bureau shall prepare a model form,
which shall be made publicly available, including in an
electronic format, by which a consumer may--
``(A) notify, and provide appropriate proof to, a consumer
reporting agency in a simple and easy manner, including
electronically, that the consumer is or was an active duty
military consumer; and
``(B) provide contact information of the consumer for the
purpose of communicating with the consumer while the consumer
is an active duty military consumer.
``(3) No adverse consequences.--Notice, whether provided by
the model form described in paragraph (2) or otherwise, that
a consumer is or was an active duty military consumer may not
provide the sole basis for--
``(A) with respect to a credit transaction between the
consumer and a creditor, a creditor--
``(i) denying an application of credit submitted by the
consumer;
``(ii) revoking an offer of credit made to the consumer by
the creditor;
``(iii) changing the terms of an existing credit
arrangement with the consumer; or
``(iv) refusing to grant credit to the consumer in a
substantially similar amount or on substantially similar
terms requested by the consumer;
``(B) furnishing negative information relating to the
creditworthiness of the consumer by or to a consumer
reporting agency; or
``(C) except as otherwise provided in this title, a
creditor or consumer reporting agency noting in the file of
the consumer that the consumer is or was an active duty
military consumer.'';
(2) in section 605A (15 U.S.C. 1681c-1)--
(A) in subsection (c)--
(i) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and adjusting
the margins accordingly;
(ii) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), as so
redesignated, by striking ``Upon'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) In general.--Upon''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Negative information notification.--If a consumer
reporting agency receives an item of adverse information
about a consumer who has provided appropriate proof that the
consumer is an active duty military consumer, the consumer
reporting agency
[[Page S3221]]
shall promptly notify the consumer, according to a frequency,
manner, and timeliness determined by the Bureau or specified
by the consumer--
``(A) that the consumer reporting agency has received the
item of adverse information, along with a description of the
item; and
``(B) the method by which the consumer may dispute the
validity of the item.
``(3) Contact information for active duty military
consumers.--
``(A) In general.--If a consumer who has provided
appropriate proof to a consumer reporting agency that the
consumer is an active duty military consumer provides the
consumer reporting agency with contact information for the
purpose of communicating with the consumer while the consumer
is an active duty military consumer, the consumer reporting
agency shall use that contact information for all
communications while the consumer is an active duty military
consumer.
``(B) Direct request.--Unless the consumer directs
otherwise, the provision of contact information by the
consumer under subparagraph (A) shall be deemed to be a
request for the consumer to receive an active duty alert
under paragraph (1).
``(4) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
any person making use of a consumer report that contains an
item of adverse information should, if the action or inaction
that gave rise to the item occurred while the consumer was an
active duty military consumer, take such fact into account
when evaluating the creditworthiness of the consumer.''; and
(B) in subsection (e), by striking paragraph (3) and
inserting the following:
``(3) subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (c)(1), in
the case of a referral under subsection (c)(1)(C).''; and
(3) in section 611(a)(1) (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(1)), by adding
at the end the following:
``(D) Notice of dispute related to active duty military
consumers.--With respect to an item of information described
under subparagraph (A) that is under dispute, if the consumer
to whom the item relates has notified the consumer reporting
agency, and has provided appropriate proof, that the consumer
was an active duty military consumer at the time the action
or inaction that gave rise to the disputed item occurred, the
consumer reporting agency shall--
``(i) include that fact in the file of the consumer; and
``(ii) indicate that fact in each consumer report that
includes the disputed item.''.
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