To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require consumer reporting agencies to provide any consumer with a free credit report annually upon the request of the consumer, and for other purposes.

June 19, 2003

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require consumer reporting agencies to provide any consumer with a free credit report annually upon the request of the consumer, 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 `Free Credit Report Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FREE CREDIT REPORT ANNUALLY UPON REQUEST OF CONSUMER.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 612 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j) is amended--

(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new subsection:

`(c) FREE CREDIT REPORT ANNUALLY UPON REQUEST OF CONSUMER- Upon the request of any consumer, each consumer reporting agency shall make all disclosures pursuant to section 609 without charge to such consumer at least once each calendar year.'.

(b) CREDIT SCORES AND PREDICTORS REQUIRED TO BE INCLUDED- Section 609(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

`(1) All information in the consumer's file at the time of the request, which shall include all of the following information:

`(A) The consumer's current credit score or the consumer's most recent credit score that was previously calculated by the credit reporting agency for a purpose related to the extension of credit.

`(B) The range of possible credit scores under the model used.

`(C) All the key factors that adversely affected the consumer's credit score in the model used.

`(D) The date the credit score was created.

`(E) The name of the person or entity (if other than the person or entity making the disclosure under this subsection) that provided the credit score or credit file on the basis of which the credit score was created.

This paragraph shall not be construed so as to compel a consumer reporting agency to develop or disclose a score if the agency does not distribute scores that are used in connection with residential real property loans, or does not develop scores that assist credit providers in understanding a consumer's general credit behavior and predicting his or her future credit behavior.'.

(c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 612(a)(1) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j(a)(1)) is amended by striking `(c), and (d)' and inserting `(c), (d), and (e)'.

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