Barney Frank: “I hope after the adoption of this amendment it will be. We have congratulated ourselves on, among other things…”

“I hope after the adoption of this amendment it will be. We have congratulated ourselves on, among other things, providing under this amendment for free copies once a year of credit reports to consumers. Indeed, we had a colloquy with the gentleman from New York about the flood that was going to happen; and at one point in committee. Language was adopted which did provide all consumers with free copies of all credit reports that might have been done on them. Then an amendment was adopted in committee, and I wish it had not been adopted, it was not by vote, it just happened, which substantially limited it. So as of now, as the bill stands, if this amendment is not adopted, consumers can get free copies of their credit reports, consumers in general, from only one of the three major national credit agencies. And that is a good thing, but there are an awful lot of specialized credit agencies. There are regional credit agencies. Not as many. Some that remain from previously. There are local credit agencies. My amendment does not cover them; I leave them out. They had been in the original bill, but I had agreed to a cutback. The cutback went much further than I thought we had agreed to.”