Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5332, and it is not because I don't believe that there isn't a motive behind this that isn't intended to help consumers. I just don't think it is going to hit the target.

This bill requires the three largest nationwide credit reporting agencies to create a single shared online portal to allow consumers one-stop access to consumer reports, credit scores, and credit freezes, as well as to initiate disputes. This portal would contain information on consumer rights and directions on how to dispute a credit report.

The bill requires credit reporting agencies to match all nine digits of a consumer's Social Security number with the information included in a consumer file.

In addition, the bill codifies the CFPB's supervision of credit reporting agencies and expands their authority to establish ``administrative, technical, and physical safeguards,'' currently under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, to all credit reporting agencies.

The bill provides injunctive relief to allow a court to compel a credit reporting agency to fix an error or remove inaccurate information from a consumer report.

Furthermore, the bill creates an additional ombudsman at the CFPB tasked with resolving persistent errors on reports that are not addressed in a timely fashion and allows the ombudsman to make referrals to the Office of Supervision and Enforcement for corrective action.

We are all supportive of increased access and availability on credit reports, scores, and file freezes, but this legislation is just overly broad and proscriptive.

I, too, like one of my other colleagues who just talked about having mysterious things show up in the mail, have been a victim of that. I have also had my credit card numbers stolen in the past. We have had to be online and try to deal with these things.

The goal to make sure that we are all protected as much as possible is a lofty goal. The problem here, though, is that this is going to potentially decrease competition, which then actually disincentivizes that access; increasing fraud risk, which I am very concerned about; propping up the trial bar, which I know is a common theme here in Washington, D.C., at least out of one party; and expanding the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

So, let's talk a little bit about the PII, that personally identifiable information. When you are matching all nine digits of consumers' Social Security numbers, it doesn't provide any alternate methods for verification. We have had problems with this in the past, and I, for one, and many Republicans have consistently--in fact, a number of my Democrat friends--have consistently expressed concerns regarding the private sector and government's overreliance on the use of these Social Security numbers for identity verification, which threatens consumers' personal information.

I oppose the Securities and Exchange Commission and other Federal agencies' use of PII in their databases because there have been breaches. I am reminded of the old adage: Why would you rob a bank? Because that is where the money is. Why would you go after a database? Because that is where the digital gold is.

What we are doing is, we are putting more digital gold into a new database. So we are increasing that vulnerability. We need to be working to promote more competition in the credit reporting and scoring industry, not less. I think that is what this bill, unfortunately, is doing.

Instead, we should be debating more targeted solutions, such as H.R. 3821, which would bolster cybersecurity capacity at credit reporting agencies, encourage an alternative to use of Social Security numbers, protect minors against fraud, and help consumers who may be facing medical debt as a result of the global pandemic.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this bill.

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