I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 306
To amend the Credit Repair Organizations Act to add additional protections
against harmful practices within the credit repair organization industry,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Ms. M
CBRIDE(for herself and Mrs. KIM) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Credit Repair Organizations Act to add addi-
tional protections against harmful practices within the
credit repair organization industry, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Scam Credit 4
Repair Act’’ or the ‘‘ESCRA Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CREDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATION DEFINITION. 6
Section 403(3) of the Credit Repair Organizations 7
Act (15 U.S.C. 1679a(3))— 8
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 306 IH
(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(not in-1
cluding anything received in return for representing 2
a consumer in preparation for or during litigation)’’ 3
after ‘‘consideration’’; and 4
(2) in subparagraph (B)— 5
(A) by inserting ‘‘an entity or individual 6
that is, in good faith and not for the purpose 7
of evading this title’’ after ‘‘include’’; 8
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or’’; 9
(C) in clause (iii), by striking the period 10
and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 11
(D) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(iv) any attorney that provides legal 13
services rendered or to be rendered to a 14
consumer in contemplation of or in connec-15
tion with a case filed, or to be filed within 16
12 months, under title 11 or title 15, 17
United States Code, by an attorney within 18
the same law firm.’’. 19
SEC. 3. PROHIBITED PRACTICES. 20
(a) U
NTRUE ORMISLEADINGSTATEMENTS.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 404(a)(1) of the 22
Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 23
1679b(a)(1)) is amended— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 306 IH
(A) by inserting ‘‘knowingly’’ before ‘‘make 1
any statement, or’’; 2
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’; 3
and 4
(C) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(C) the Bureau of Consumer Financial 6
Protection directly or through an online portal 7
established to receive complaints, disputes, or 8
reports of fraud; 9
‘‘(D) the Federal Trade Commission di-10
rectly or through an online portal established to 11
receive complaints, disputes, or reports of 12
fraud; or 13
‘‘(E) any Federal, State, local, or Tribal 14
law enforcement agency, directly or through an 15
online portal established to receive complaints, 16
disputes, or reports of fraud;’’. 17
(2) F
INDING.—The Congress finds that it is al-18
ready unlawful to make materially false, fictitious, or 19
fraudulent statements or representations to the Bu-20
reau of Consumer Financial Protection. 21
(b) A
DDITIONALPROHIBITEDPRACTICES.—Section 22
404 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 23
1679b) is amended— 24
(1) in subsection (a)(2)— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 306 IH
(A) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by inserting 1
‘‘or’’ after ‘‘credit;’’; and 2
(B) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(C) the Bureau of Consumer Financial 4
Protection or the Federal Trade Commission;’’; 5
(2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-6
lows: 7
‘‘(b) P
AYMENT INADVANCE.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—No credit repair organiza-9
tion may request or receive payment of any fee or 10
consideration from a consumer for services rep-11
resented to remove derogatory or inaccurate infor-12
mation from, or improve, such consumer’s credit his-13
tory, credit record, or credit rating, or services re-14
lated to such a representation, until the credit repair 15
organization has provided such consumer with docu-16
mentation in the form of a consumer report, issued 17
not less than 6 months after such service, from a 18
consumer reporting agency that demonstrates that 19
such representation has been achieved. 20
‘‘(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 21
this subsection shall be construed to alter the per-22
missible purposes of furnishing a consumer report 23
described in section 604 of the Fair Credit Report-24
ing Act.’’; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 306 IH
(3) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(c) J
AMMING.—A credit repair organization may not 2
submit multiple disputes described in section 611 of the 3
Fair Credit Reporting Act of the same information unless 4
all of the following are true: 5
‘‘(1) The consumer reporting agency or data 6
furnisher has had the time permitted under the Fair 7
Credit Reporting Act to conduct a reasonable inves-8
tigation on the prior dispute. 9
‘‘(2) The consumer reporting agency or data 10
furnisher has returned the results of its investigation 11
to the consumer with respect to such dispute, unless 12
there are material changes to the information sub-13
mitted with the dispute. 14
‘‘(3) The credit repair organization includes 15
with the resubmitted dispute a specific description of 16
what information is inaccurate.’’. 17
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURES. 18
Section 405 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 19
(15 U.S.C. 1679c) is amended— 20
(1) in subsection (a)— 21
(A) by striking ‘‘due to fraud.’’ and insert-22
ing ‘‘due to fraud. Credit repair organizations 23
do not provide any services that you cannot do 24
yourself for free.’’; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 306 IH
(B) by striking ‘‘regulates’’ and inserting 1
‘‘and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Pro-2
tection regulate’’; and 3
(C) by inserting ‘‘The Bureau of Consumer 4
Financial Protection 1700 G St. NW, Wash-5
ington, DC, 20552 Tel: 855–411–2372 TTY/ 6
TTD: 855–729–2372’’ after ‘‘20580’’; and 7
(2) in subsection (c)— 8
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking the pe-9
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘and any record-10
ings of telephone communications with the con-11
sumer.’’; and 12
(B) in paragraph (2)— 13
(i) by striking ‘‘
2’’ in the heading and 14
inserting ‘‘
5’’; 15
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and any telephone 16
recordings with the consumer’’ after ‘‘con-17
sumer’s statement’’; 18
(iii) by striking ‘‘2’’ and inserting 19
‘‘5’’; and 20
(iv) by striking ‘‘statement is signed 21
by the consumer’’ and inserting ‘‘statement 22
or the telephone recordings are created’’. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 306 IH
SEC. 5. CONSUMER CONTRACT REQUIRED. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 407(c) of the Credit Re-2
pair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679e(c)) is amended 3
by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(3) copies of all communications sent on be-5
half of the consumer, at the time the communication 6
is sent.’’. 7
(b) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—Section 407(c) of the 8
Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679e(c)) is 9
amended— 10
(1) by striking ‘‘at the time the contract or the 11
other document is signed.’’; 12
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; and’’ insert-13
ing ‘‘, at the time the contract or the other docu-14
ment is signed;’’; and 15
(3) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end ‘‘at 16
the time the contract or the other document is 17
signed; and’’. 18
SEC. 6. NONCOMPLIANCE. 19
Section 408 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 20
(15 U.S.C. 1679f) is amended by adding at the end fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(d) L
EGALSERVICESWITHINCREDITREPAIROR-23
GANIZATIONS.—A credit repair organization shall be sub-24
ject to this title regardless of whether the organization is, 25
or employs, an attorney who also provides legal services 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•HR 306 IH
to a consumer, except if such attorney is an attorney de-1
scribed in section 403(3)(B)(iv). 2
‘‘(e) C
REDITREPAIRORGANIZATIONSWITHOUT A 3
S
TATELICENSE.—On or after January 1, 2026, no per-4
son may act as a credit repair organization unless such 5
person is licensed by a State.’’. 6
SEC. 7. CREDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATIONS 7
WITH FURNISHERS OF INFORMATION. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Credit Repair Organizations 9
Act (15 U.S.C. 1679 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 10
section 408 the following new section: 11
‘‘§ 408A. Credit repair organization communications 12
with furnishers of information 13
‘‘Disputes submitted to a person who furnishes infor-14
mation to a consumer reporting agency by or on behalf 15
of a credit repair organization shall meet the following re-16
quirements: 17
‘‘(1) If sent by mail, the dispute shall be trans-18
mitted by first class mail and list on the envelope 19
the— 20
‘‘(A) name of the credit repair organiza-21
tion; and 22
‘‘(B) State license number of the credit re-23
pair organization, if applicable. 24
‘‘(2) The dispute shall list the— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•HR 306 IH
‘‘(A) name of the credit repair organiza-1
tion; 2
‘‘(B) State license number of the credit re-3
pair organization, if applicable; and 4
‘‘(C) name of the consumer on whose be-5
half the dispute is submitted. 6
‘‘(3) In the case of any additional communica-7
tion after an initial dispute, the additional commu-8
nication shall clearly and conspicuously identify any 9
material changes to the information provided in the 10
initial written dispute and include the information 11
described in paragraphs (1) and (2). 12
‘‘(4) In the case where a credit repair organiza-13
tion sells or otherwise provides an online or paper 14
blank dispute form to be completed and filed by the 15
consumer, such form must contain the— 16
‘‘(A) name and address of such credit re-17
pair organization; and 18
‘‘(B) State license number of such credit 19
repair organization, if applicable. 20
‘‘(5) In the case where the person responds to 21
a dispute submitted by a credit repair organization 22
seeking clarifying information, verifying if the cus-23
tomer has actually engaged with the credit repair or-24
ganization, or denying the accuracy of the under-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•HR 306 IH
lying claim, the credit repair organization shall re-1
spond in writing within 15 business days. 2
‘‘(6) In the case where the credit repair organi-3
zation is an attorney, the attorney shall certify that 4
any communication is consistent with any informa-5
tion or documentation provided by the consumer, 6
confirmed based upon methods or means proven to 7
be historically reliable and accurate. 8
‘‘(7) A credit repair organization, when sending 9
a dispute, shall disclose the fact that it is a credit 10
repair organization by placing the following disclo-11
sure on the dispute letter: ‘This communication was 12
submitted or prepared on behalf of the consumer by 13
a credit repair organization, as defined in section 14
403 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 15
U.S.C. 1679a).’’’. 16
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 17
for the Credit Repair Organizations Act is amended by 18
inserting after the item relating to section 408 the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘408A. Credit repair organization communications with furnishers of informa-
tion.’’.
SEC. 8. CIVIL LIABILITY.
21
Section 409(a)(1) of the Credit Repair Organizations 22
Act (15 U.S.C. 1679g(a)(1)) is amended— 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
•HR 306 IH
(1) by striking ‘‘ACTUAL DAMAGES’’ and insert-1
ing ‘‘D
AMAGES’’; 2
(2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’; 3
(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 4
at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 5
(4) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(C) the amount of $500 in damages for 7
each violation of this title.’’. 8
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB