Gary Hart: “I rise in support of the FACT Act, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. Fortunately, today we appear to have…”

“I rise in support of the FACT Act, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. Fortunately, today we appear to have bipartisan support of the Act, and it is for a clear reason, our credit system in the United States is the envy of the world. Our uniform national standards have helped to make the United States a world leader, and have continued to spur on our economy, even in times that have been difficult in the last year or so. The bill makes these national standards that have been in effect permanent. This is important to ensure continuity in our credit system, and also to maintain continued access to the best credit markets in the world. This is especially important because two-thirds of our economy depends very heavily on consumer spending. Consumers will not spend without access to credit, and to get access to credit, consumers and lenders need consistent, uniform standards for credit reports. Broader access is the result. National and worldwide access is also the result. According to the Federal Reserve Board, in fact, since the Fair Credit Reporting Act was enacted, the overall percentage of families with general purpose credit cards increased from 16 to 73 percent and the largest increase was among lower-income families. Homeownership levels have also grown approximately 10 percent, again with low income and minority families receiving the largest gains. According to some estimates, these improvements have saved consumers nearly $100 billion annually.”