FTC STUDY OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.

SEC. 318. FTC STUDY OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.(a) Study Required.—(1) In general.—The Commission shall conduct a study on ways to improve the operation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. (2) Areas for study.—In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Commission shall review—(A) the efficacy of increasing the number of points of identifying information that a credit reporting agency is required to match to ensure that a consumer is the correct individual to whom a consumer report relates before releasing a consumer report to a user, including—(i) the extent to which requiring additional points of such identifying information to match would—(I) enhance the accuracy of credit reports; and(II) combat the provision of incorrect consumer reports to users;(ii) the extent to which requiring an exact match of the first and last name, social security number, and address and ZIP Code of the consumer would enhance the likelihood of increasing credit report accuracy; and (iii) the effects of allowing consumer reporting agencies to use partial matches of social security numbers and name recognition software on the accuracy of credit reports; (B) requiring notification to consumers when negative information has been added to their credit reports, including—(i) the potential impact of such notification on the ability of consumers to identify errors on their credit reports; and(ii) the potential impact of such notification on the ability of consumers to remove fraudulent information from their credit reports; (C) the effects of requiring that a consumer who has experienced an adverse action based on a credit report receives a copy of the same credit report that the creditor relied on in taking the adverse action, including—(i) the extent to which providing such reports to consumers would increase the ability of consumers to identify errors in their credit reports; and(ii) the extent to which providing such reports to consumers would increase the ability of consumers 117 STAT. 1999 to remove fraudulent information from their credit reports;(D) any common financial transactions that are not generally reported to the consumer reporting agencies, but would provide useful information in determining the credit worthiness of consumers; and(E) any actions that might be taken within a voluntary reporting system to encourage the reporting of the types of transactions described in subparagraph (D).(3) Costs and benefits.—With respect to each area of study described in paragraph (2), the Commission shall consider the extent to which such requirements would benefit consumers, balanced against the cost of implementing such provisions.(b) Report Required.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the chairman of the Commission shall submit a report to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives containing a detailed summary of the findings and conclusions of the study under this section, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative actions as may be appropriate.