A bill introduced last week in the House of Representatives would significantly rewrite the Fair Credit Reporting Act, shortening how long most negative information can remain on a consumer’s credit report and banning medical debt from appearing on consumer reports entirely.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib [D-Mich.] introduced the Fostering Accuracy and Integrity in the Reporting of Credit Act, or FAIR Credit Act, on July 9. The bill is cosponsored by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton [D-D.C.] and Rep. Melanie Stansbury [D-N.M.].
The most consequential provisions are the ones that change the reporting clock. The bill would reduce the time that most adverse information stays on a consumer report from seven years to four, and would shorten the window for bankruptcies from 10 years to seven. It would also mandate that fully paid or settled debts that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection be removed from consumer reports within 45 calendar days of payment or settlement, a dramatic acceleration of current practice.
The medical debt prohibition is written broadly, covering any information related to a medical debt, including accounts placed for collection or charged off. The provision would revive, through statute, the substance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s January 2025 medical debt rule, which a federal judge vacated in July 2025. The CFPB followed that ruling with guidance in October 2025 stating that the FCRA generally preempts states from removing medical debt from credit reports, making congressional action the clearest remaining path for proponents.
Other provisions would create credit restoration mechanisms for victims of predatory mortgage lending, defrauded student loan borrowers at for-profit schools, and survivors of economic abuse, who could have adverse information removed by submitting documentation to a consumer reporting agency. The bill would also cap the reporting of criminal conviction records at seven years, replace the current initial and extended fraud alert framework with one-year and seven-year alerts, and establish a right to free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for certain consumers, including fraud victims, active-duty servicemembers, public assistance recipients, and those 65 and older.
The bill would take effect two years after enactment, with the CFPB directed to issue implementing rules within that window. It is endorsed by the National Consumer Law Center, Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Responsible Lending, and several other consumer advocacy groups.
With two cosponsors and Democratic sponsorship in a Republican-controlled Congress, the bill faces long odds of advancing this session. But it offers a detailed preview of the credit reporting agenda consumer advocates and their congressional allies will push if the political landscape shifts.
