For Immediate Release: Sept. 11, 2003

Contact: Jennifer Porter Gore, 202-225-7141
              Kay Gibbs, 202-225-7054
 

Rep. Barney Frank Notes Passage of Fair Credit Bill

WASHINGTON--The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation that provides consumers the strongest protections to date against the sharing of their sensitive medical information and identity theft while also giving consumers more tools to dispute and correct wrong information in their credit reports. 

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, which passed on a vote of 392-30, reauthorizes portions of The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which are set to expire at the end of this year. FCRA is designed to protect the accuracy and privacy of the information found in the millions of consumer credit reports generated each year. The law also states how businesses and other institutions can sell or share consumer information. 

The legislation contains language that for the first time will allow all consumers to receive a free credit report each year and, for a small fee, a report about their credit score. Consumers would receive their current or most recently calculated credit score, an explanation of the different scoring systems, such as FICO or Beacon, and four leading negative factors affecting the score. 

The bill combats identity theft by permitting consumers to more easily place ‘fraud alerts’ on their consumer reports, requiring credit reporting agencies to omit information that is confirmed to have come from an identity theft; and prohibiting retailers from printing the expiration date and more than the last five digits of a consumer’s credit or debit card number on electronic receipts. 

“The bill is not yet a finished product and I hope we can do more to deal in conference with the retroactive preemption of California’s new privacy law but overall it is an improvement for the consumer because it would give more consumer protections than they previously had,” said House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank. “It’s not the bill that the Democrats would have passed if we were in the majority but it does enhance consumer protections while not interfering with the needs and functions of the market.”

Finally, the bill expands the protections that govern the sharing and use of sensitive medical records, as well as information on medical payments and debts. The bill’s protections include preventing creditors from using medical information to determine a consumer’s eligibility for credit, ensuring that insurance companies don’t share medical information with non-insurance companies they are affiliated with, and code reporting of payments made on medical-related accounts, debts or collections to prevent disclosure of sensitive health information.

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 The Committee oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Committee also ensures enforcement of housing and consumer protection laws such as the U.S. Housing Act, the Truth In Lending Act, the Housing and Community Development Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Community Reinvestment Act, and financial privacy laws.