S.Amdt. 1737

SA 1737. Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Booker)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463
proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities of the
Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ____. NOTICE OF STATUS AS AN ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY
CONSUMER.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) is
amended--
(1) in section 605, by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Notice of Status as an Active Duty Military
Consumer.--
``(1) In general.--With respect to an item of adverse
information about a consumer, if the action or inaction that
gave rise to the item occurred while the consumer was an
active duty military consumer, the consumer may provide
appropriate proof, including official orders, to a consumer
reporting agency that the consumer was an active duty
military consumer at the time such action or inaction
occurred, and any consumer report provided by the consumer
reporting agency that includes the item shall clearly and
conspicuously disclose that the consumer was an active duty
military consumer when the action or inaction that gave rise
to the item occurred.
``(2) Model form.--The Bureau shall prepare a model form,
which shall be made publicly available, including in an
electronic format, by which a consumer may--
``(A) notify, and provide appropriate proof to, a consumer
reporting agency in a simple and easy manner, including
electronically, that the consumer is or was an active duty
military consumer; and
``(B) provide contact information of the consumer for the
purpose of communicating with the consumer while the consumer
is an active duty military consumer.
``(3) No adverse consequences.--A notice, pursuant to a
model form or otherwise, that a consumer is or was an active
duty military consumer shall not itself (without regard to
other considerations) provide the basis for any of the
following:
``(A) With respect to a credit transaction between a
creditor and the consumer--
``(i) a denial or revocation of credit by the creditor;
``(ii) a change by the creditor in the terms of an existing
credit arrangement; or
``(iii) a refusal by the creditor to grant credit to the
consumer in substantially the amount or on substantially the
terms requested.
``(B) An adverse report relating to the creditworthiness of
the consumer by or to a person engaged in the practice of
assembling or evaluating consumer credit information.
``(C) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, an
annotation in a consumer's record by a creditor or a person
engaged in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer
credit information, identifying the consumer as an active
duty military consumer.'';
(2) in section 605A--
(A) in subsection (c)--
(i) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and adjusting
the margins accordingly;
(ii) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), as so
redesignated, by striking ``Upon'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) In general.--Upon''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Negative information notification.--If a consumer
reporting agency receives an item of adverse information
about a consumer who has provided appropriate proof that the
consumer is an active duty military consumer, the consumer
reporting agency shall notify the consumer, according to a
frequency, manner, and timeliness determined by the Bureau or
specified by the consumer--
``(A) that the consumer reporting agency has received the
item of adverse information, along with a description of the
item; and
``(B) the method by which the consumer may dispute the
validity of the item.
``(3) Contact information for active duty military
consumers.--
``(A) In general.--If a consumer who has provided
appropriate proof to a consumer reporting agency that the
consumer is an active duty military consumer provides the
consumer reporting agency with contact information for the
purpose of communicating with the consumer while the consumer
is an active duty military consumer, the consumer reporting
agency shall use such contact information for all
communications while the consumer is an active duty military
consumer.
``(B) Direct request.--Unless the consumer opts out, the
provision of appropriate proof that a consumer is an active
duty military consumer shall be treated as a direct request
for an active duty alert under paragraph (1).
``(4) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
any person making use of a consumer report that contains an
item of adverse information should, if the action or inaction
that gave rise to the item occurred while the consumer was an
active duty military consumer, take such fact into account
when evaluating the creditworthiness of the consumer.''; and

[[Page S3821]]

(B) in subsection (e), by striking paragraph (3) and
inserting the following:
``(3) subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (c)(1), in
the case of a referral under subsection (c)(1)(C).''; and
(3) in section 611(a)(1), by adding at the end the
following:
``(D) Notice of dispute related to active duty military
consumers.--With respect to an item of information described
under subparagraph (A) that is under dispute, if the consumer
to whom the item relates has notified the consumer reporting
agency, and has provided appropriate proof, that the consumer
was an active duty military consumer at the time the action
or inaction that gave rise to the disputed item occurred, the
consumer reporting agency shall--
``(i) include such fact in the file of the consumer; and
``(ii) indicate such fact in each consumer report that
includes the disputed item.''.
______