FREE CONSUMER REPORTS.

SEC. 211. FREE CONSUMER REPORTS.(a) In General.—Section 612 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681j) is amended—(1) by redesignating subsection (a) as subsection (f), and transferring it to the end of the section;(2) by inserting before subsection (b) the following:“(a) Free Annual Disclosure.—“(1) Nationwide consumer reporting agencies.—117 STAT. 1969 “(A) In general.—All consumer reporting agencies described in subsections (p) and (w) of section 603 shall make all disclosures pursuant to section 609 once during any 12-month period upon request of the consumer and without charge to the consumer.“(B) Centralized source.—Subparagraph (A) shall apply with respect to a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) only if the request from the consumer is made using the centralized source established for such purpose in accordance with section 211(c) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003.“(C) Nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency.—“(i) In general.—The Commission shall prescribe regulations applicable to each consumer reporting agency described in section 603(w) to require the establishment of a streamlined process for consumers to request consumer reports under subparagraph (A), which shall include, at a minimum, the establishment by each such agency of a toll-free telephone number for such requests.“(ii) Considerations.—In prescribing regulations under clause (i), the Commission shall consider—“(I) the significant demands that may be placed on consumer reporting agencies in providing such consumer reports;“(II) appropriate means to ensure that consumer reporting agencies can satisfactorily meet those demands, including the efficacy of a system of staggering the availability to consumers of such consumer reports; and“(III) the ease by which consumers should be able to contact consumer reporting agencies with respect to access to such consumer reports.“(iii) Date of issuance.—The Commission shall issue the regulations required by this subparagraph in final form not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003.“(iv) Consideration of ability to comply.—The regulations of the Commission under this subparagraph shall establish an effective date by which each nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency (as defined in section 603(w)) shall be required to comply with subsection (a), which effective date—“(I) shall be established after consideration of the ability of each nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency to comply with subsection (a); and“(II) shall be not later than 6 months after the date on which such regulations are issued in final form (or such additional period not to exceed 3 months, as the Commission determines appropriate).“(2) Timing.—A consumer reporting agency shall provide a consumer report under paragraph (1) not later than 15 days 117 STAT. 1970 after the date on which the request is received under paragraph (1).“(3) Reinvestigations.—Notwithstanding the time periods specified in section 611(a)(1), a reinvestigation under that section by a consumer reporting agency upon a request of a consumer that is made after receiving a consumer report under this subsection shall be completed not later than 45 days after the date on which the request is received.“(4) Exception for first 12 months of operation.—This subsection shall not apply to a consumer reporting agency that has not been furnishing consumer reports to third parties on a continuing basis during the 12-month period preceding a request under paragraph (1), with respect to consumers residing nationwide.”;(3) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e);(4) by inserting before subsection (e), as redesignated, the following:“(d) Free Disclosures in Connection With Fraud Alerts.—Upon the request of a consumer, a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) shall make all disclosures pursuant to section 609 without charge to the consumer, as provided in subsections (a)(2) and (b)(2) of section 605A, as applicable.”; (5) in subsection (e), as redesignated, by striking “subsection (a)” and inserting “subsection (f)”; and(6) in subsection (f), as redesignated, by striking “Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (d), a” and inserting “In the case of a request from a consumer other than a request that is covered by any of subsections (a) through (d), a”.(b) Circumvention Prohibited.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 628, as added by section 216 of this Act, the following new section: “§ 629. Corporate and technological circumvention prohibited “The Commission shall prescribe regulations, to become effective not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this section, to prevent a consumer reporting agency from circumventing or evading treatment as a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p) for purposes of this title, including—“(1) by means of a corporate reorganization or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, dissolution, divestiture, or asset sale of a consumer reporting agency; or “(2) by maintaining or merging public record and credit account information in a manner that is substantially equivalent to that described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 603(p), in the manner described in section 603(p).” .(c) Summary of Rights To Obtain and Dispute Information in Consumer Reports and To Obtain Credit Scores.—Section 609(c) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) is amended to read as follows:“(c) Summary of Rights To Obtain and Dispute Information in Consumer Reports and To Obtain Credit Scores.—“(1) Commission summary of rights required.—“(A) In general.—The Commission shall prepare a model summary of the rights of consumers under this title.117 STAT. 1971“(B) Content of summary.—The summary of rights prepared under subparagraph (A) shall include a description of—“(i) the right of a consumer to obtain a copy of a consumer report under subsection (a) from each consumer reporting agency;“(ii) the frequency and circumstances under which a consumer is entitled to receive a consumer report without charge under section 612;“(iii) the right of a consumer to dispute information in the file of the consumer under section 611;“(iv) the right of a consumer to obtain a credit score from a consumer reporting agency, and a description of how to obtain a credit score;“(v) the method by which a consumer can contact, and obtain a consumer report from, a consumer reporting agency without charge, as provided in the regulations of the Commission prescribed under section 211(c) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003; and“(vi) the method by which a consumer can contact, and obtain a consumer report from, a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(w), as provided in the regulations of the Commission prescribed under section 612(a)(1)(C). “(C) Availability of summary of rights.—The Commission shall—“(i) actively publicize the availability of the summary of rights prepared under this paragraph;“(ii) conspicuously post on its Internet website the availability of such summary of rights; and “(iii) promptly make such summary of rights available to consumers, on request.“(2) Summary of rights required to be included with agency disclosures.—A consumer reporting agency shall provide to a consumer, with each written disclosure by the agency to the consumer under this section—“(A) the summary of rights prepared by the Commission under paragraph (1);“(B) in the case of a consumer reporting agency described in section 603(p), a toll-free telephone number established by the agency, at which personnel are accessible to consumers during normal business hours;“(C) a list of all Federal agencies responsible for enforcing any provision of this title, and the address and any appropriate phone number of each such agency, in a form that will assist the consumer in selecting the appropriate agency;“(D) a statement that the consumer may have additional rights under State law, and that the consumer may wish to contact a State or local consumer protection agency or a State attorney general (or the equivalent thereof) to learn of those rights; and“(E) a statement that a consumer reporting agency is not required to remove accurate derogatory information from the file of a consumer, unless the information is outdated under section 605 or cannot be verified.”.117 STAT. 1972(d) Rulemaking Required.—(1) In general.—The Commission shall prescribe regulations applicable to consumer reporting agencies described in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to require the establishment of—(A) a centralized source through which consumers may obtain a consumer report from each such consumer reporting agency, using a single request, and without charge to the consumer, as provided in section 612(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (as amended by this section); and(B) a standardized form for a consumer to make such a request for a consumer report by mail or through an Internet website.(2) Considerations.—In prescribing regulations under paragraph (1), the Commission shall consider—(A) the significant demands that may be placed on consumer reporting agencies in providing such consumer reports;(B) appropriate means to ensure that consumer reporting agencies can satisfactorily meet those demands, including the efficacy of a system of staggering the availability to consumers of such consumer reports; and(C) the ease by which consumers should be able to contact consumer reporting agencies with respect to access to such consumer reports.(3) Centralized source.—The centralized source for a request for a consumer report from a consumer required by this subsection shall provide for—(A) a toll-free telephone number for such purpose;(B) use of an Internet website for such purpose; and (C) a process for requests by mail for such purpose.(4) Transition.—The regulations of the Commission under paragraph (1) shall provide for an orderly transition by consumer reporting agencies described in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to the centralized source for consumer report distribution required by section 612(a)(1)(B), as amended by this section, in a manner that—(A) does not temporarily overwhelm such consumer reporting agencies with requests for disclosures of consumer reports beyond their capacity to deliver; and(B) does not deny creditors, other users, and consumers access to consumer reports on a time-sensitive basis for specific purposes, such as home purchases or suspicions of identity theft, during the transition period.(5) Timing.—Regulations required by this subsection shall—(A) be issued in final form not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act; and(B) become effective not later than 6 months after the date on which they are issued in final form.(6) Scope of regulations.—(A) In general.—The Commission shall, by rule, determine whether to require a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on substantially a nationwide basis, other than one described in section 117 STAT. 1973 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to make free consumer reports available upon consumer request, and if so, whether such consumer reporting agencies should make such free reports available through the centralized source described in paragraph (1)(A).(B) Considerations.—Before making any determination under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall consider—(i) the number of requests for consumer reports to, and the number of consumer reports generated by, the consumer reporting agency, in comparison with consumer reporting agencies described in subsections (p) and (w) of section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act;(ii) the overall scope of the operations of the consumer reporting agency; (iii) the needs of consumers for access to consumer reports provided by consumer reporting agencies free of charge; (iv) the costs of providing access to consumer reports by consumer reporting agencies free of charge; and (v) the effects on the ongoing competitive viability of such consumer reporting agencies if such free access is required.