A Closer Look at the FACS Act

It’s a big week for financial reform bill amendments! In keeping with the week’s theme, Credit.com expert John Ulzheimer follows up his earlier post on Senator Mark Udall’s (D-Colo.) Fair Access to Credit Score Act (FACS Act) with a more detailed look at the proposal.

The big deal with this one is that consumers are not entitled to the score that got them turned down for credit or a loan. According to a statement from Udall’s office, the FACS Act aims to even the current playing field in which banks and lenders “know the consumer's credit score, but the consumer does not.”  If it passes, lenders will be required to automatically disclose to the consumer the particular credit score that was used in a decision to deny them credit, a loan or a credit limit extension.

In his arguments on the Senate floor (below), Udall volleys back at the credit reporting agencies’ argument that a consumer’s credit score is the property of the agency, rather than to "the individual who creates the credit score. I can’t help but think, Mr. President: Would a doctor say that someone’s blood pressure reading is their information and not their patient’s?”