[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 168 (Wednesday, October 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen):
  S. 2685. A bill to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require 
that a consumer authorize the release of certain information; to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Today, I am joined by Senator Van Hollen in reintroducing 
the Consumer Credit Control Act, which gives consumers greater control 
over when and how their consumer reports are shared by consumer 
reporting agencies.
  Our current consumer reporting system is backwards. Consumer 
reporting agencies collect extensive amounts of personal information on 
consumers, often without their knowledge, in order to compile consumer 
reports. These reports are then shared with financial institutions and 
others, typically without consent.
  Following Equifax's failure in 2017 to secure troves of valuable 
personally identifiable information it collected on over 145 million 
Americans, it was evident that this system had to change. Indeed, the 
National Consumer Law Center's Chi Chi Wu stated in her October 2017 
testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that the 
Equifax breach ``means half of the US population and nearly three-
quarters of the consumers with active credit reports are now at risk of 
identity theft due to one of the worst--if not the worst--breaches of 
consumer data in American history. These Americans are at risk of 
having false new credit accounts. phony tax returns, and even spurious 
medical bills incurred in their good names.'' To make matters worse. 
the risks of identity fraud may not dissipate over time. As Ed 
Mierzwinski. U.S. PIRG's federal Consumer Program Director. explains 
``unlike credit card numbers. your Social Security Number and Date of 
Birth don't change and may even grow more valuable over time, like gold 
in a bank vault. Much worse, they are the keys to ``new account 
identity theft.' ''
  The Consumer Credit Control Act attempts to address these concerns 
and fix the current upside down system. Our legislation, at no cost to 
the consumer, seeks to give Americans greater control over when and how 
their consumer reports are released when applying for new credit, a 
loan, or insurance. It also would require consumer reporting agencies 
to verify a consumer's identity and secure the consumer's permission 
before releasing consumer reports in instances that are particularly 
vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. Additionally. our legislation 
compels every consumer reporting agency to take appropriate steps to 
prevent unauthorized access to the consumer reports and personal 
information they maintain. These changes are designed to make it 
tougher for criminals to fraudulently open new credit or insurance 
accounts in other peoples names.
  I urge our colleagues to cosponsor this commonsense legislative 
effort, and I thank Senator Van Hollen, the National Consumer Law 
Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), U.S. PIRG, Americans for 
Financial Reform, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, 
the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Demos, the NAACP, 
the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Fair 
Housing Alliance, Public Citizen, Tennessee Citizen Action, and the 
Woodstock Institute for their support.
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