On the recordApril 22, 2010
I rise to speak about a particular opportunity we have as we consider this important and far-reaching reform legislation, and that is to discuss a piece of legislation I have introduced today called the Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2010. Senator Lugar and I joined along with eight other colleagues, to introduce this bill that would put consumers back in control of their finances. This bill takes a commonsense yet significant step in that direction by offering Americans annual access to their credit score when they access their annual free credit report. Making the distinction between your score and your report, a report tells consumers what outstanding credit accounts they have open, such as student loans or credit cards, maybe a car or home loan. Unfortunately, it tells Americans little else. Often, they already know--they hopefully should know that information in their credit report. In contrast, your credit score, which our legislation would make available, is what banks and lenders and increasingly even employers have access to. It is critical information that each one of us needs to know.
