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Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Madam President, I am joined by Senator Van Hollen in introducing the Consumer Credit Control Act, which gives consumers greater control over when and how their consumer reports are shared by consumer reporting agencies.

Our current consumer reporting system is backwards. Consumer reporting agencies collect massive amounts of personal information on consumers, often without their knowledge, in order to compile consumer reports. These reports are then shared with financial institutions and others, often without consent.

Following Equifax's failure several years ago to secure valuable personally identifiable information it collected on approximately 147 million Americans, it remains clear that this system needs to change. Indeed, the National Consumer Law Center's Chi Chi Wu stated in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that the Equifax breach ``means half of the US population and nearly three- quarters of the consumers with active credit reports are now at risk of identity theft due to one of the worst--if not the worst--breaches of consumer data in American history. These Americans are at risk of having false new credit accounts, phony tax returns, and even spurious medical bills incurred in their good names.'' To make matters worse, the risks of identity fraud may only increase with time. As Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG's Federal Consumer Program Director, explains ``unlike credit card numbers, your Social Security Number and Date of Birth don't change and may even grow more valuable over time, like gold in a bank vault. Much worse, they are the keys to `new account identity theft.' ''

The Consumer Credit Control Act aims to address these concerns and fix the current upside down system. Our legislation, at no cost to the consumer, seeks to give Americans greater control over when and how their consumer reports are released when applying for new credit, a loan, or insurance. It also requires consumer reporting agencies to verify a consumer's identity and secure the consumer's permission before releasing consumer reports in instances that are particularly susceptible to identity theft and fraud. Additionally, our legislation requires every consumer reporting agency to take appropriate steps to prevent unauthorized access to the consumer reports and personal information they maintain.

These changes are intended to make it tougher for criminals to open new fraudulent credit or insurance accounts in other people's names. They will also dramatically cut down on so-called ``trigger leads,'' where the credit reporting bureaus sell the fact that a consumer is shopping for a mortgage to other lenders. That causes prospective homebuyers to get inundated with hundreds of calls offering alternative mortgages. The credit bureaus say that these ``trigger leads'' help consumers by making sure they have access to the most attractive financing, but in reality they are a nuisance and add unnecessary stress to the already stressful process of buying a home.

I urge our colleagues to cosponsor the Consumer Credit Control Act, and I thank Senator Van Hollen, the National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients, U.S. PIRG, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, and Public Citizen for their support.

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