Political Quotes

“I want to commend the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer) for what I consider a straightforward, commonsense amendment. This is an amendment to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, what we commonly call the FACT Act. The FACT Act is known for a free credit report and the requirement on the three main credit reporting agencies to amend their records. If you notify one of an error, they have to make an examination and then correct it. Financial literacy was also an important part of the FACT Act because you have your credit report, but if you don't have good financial literacy, it is not going to be a good credit report. In 2003, the subcommittee--which I chaired at that time--passed this in the full committee, and we had bipartisan support. Judy Biggert--who is no longer with us--from Illinois, I think, was one of the leaders on our side, but there were many on both sides. A commission was formed without almost any cost to the people, and it did a lot of good research on financial literacy, how to avoid bad financial decisions, debt load, what different financial products were there, where to turn in case of an emergency. It is called mymoney.gov. It is an excellent resource. What we found--and Mr. Kilmer did a lot of work on this and Mr. Hinojosa and others--is that people are not utilizing that and that colleges and universities, when students apply for loans, they are not directing them to that site, which can actually save them money upfront.…”