ESCRA Act Ending Scam Credit Repair Act

II 119TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4144 To amend the Credit Repair Organizations Act to add additional protections against harmful practices within the credit repair organization industry, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 19, 2026 Mr. C OONS (for himself and Ms. M URKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous- ing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To amend the Credit Repair Organizations Act to add addi- tional protections against harmful practices within the credit repair organization industry, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Scam Credit 4 Repair Act’’ or the ‘‘ESCRA Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CREDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATION DEFINITION. 6 Section 403(3) of the Credit Repair Organizations 7 Act (15 U.S.C. 1679a(3))— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 4144 IS (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(not in-1 cluding anything received in return for representing 2 a consumer in preparation for or during litigation)’’ 3 after ‘‘consideration’’; and 4 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 5 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 6 inserting ‘‘an entity or individual that is, in 7 good faith and not for the purpose of evading 8 this title’’ after ‘‘include’’; 9 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 10 end; 11 (C) in clause (iii), by striking the period 12 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 13 (D) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(iv) any attorney that provides legal 15 services rendered or to be rendered to a 16 consumer in contemplation of or in connec-17 tion with a case filed, or to be filed within 18 12 months, under title 11, United States 19 Code, or the Consumer Credit Protection 20 Act (15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), by an attor-21 ney within the same law firm.’’. 22 SEC. 3. PROHIBITED PRACTICES. 23 (a) UNTRUE OR MISLEADING STATEMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 4144 IS (1) I N GENERAL .—Section 404(a)(1) of the 1 Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 2 1679b(a)(1)) is amended— 3 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 4 (A), by inserting ‘‘knowingly’’ before ‘‘make any 5 statement, or’’; 6 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ 7 at the end; and 8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(C) the Bureau of Consumer Financial 10 Protection directly or through an online portal 11 established to receive complaints, disputes, or 12 reports of fraud; 13 ‘‘(D) the Federal Trade Commission di-14 rectly or through an online portal established to 15 receive complaints, disputes, or reports of 16 fraud; or 17 ‘‘(E) any Federal, State, local, or Tribal 18 law enforcement agency directly or through an 19 online portal established to receive complaints, 20 disputes, or reports of fraud;’’. 21 (2) F INDING.—The Congress finds that it is 22 unlawful, as of the date of enactment of this Act, to 23 make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent state-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 4144 IS ments or representations to the Bureau of Consumer 1 Financial Protection. 2 (b) A DDITIONAL PROHIBITED PRACTICES.—Section 3 404 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 4 1679b) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 6 (A) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 7 the semicolon and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(C) the Bureau of Consumer Financial 10 Protection or the Federal Trade Commission;’’; 11 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-12 lows: 13 ‘‘(b) PAYMENT IN ADVANCE.— 14 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—No credit repair organiza-15 tion may request or receive payment of any fee or 16 consideration from a consumer for services rep-17 resented to remove derogatory or inaccurate infor-18 mation from, or improve, the credit history of such 19 consumer’s credit history, credit record, or credit 20 rating, or services related to such a representation, 21 until the credit repair organization has provided 22 such consumer with documentation in the form of a 23 consumer report, issued not earlier than 180 days 24 after the date on such service is rendered, from a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 4144 IS consumer reporting agency that demonstrates that 1 such representation has been achieved. 2 ‘‘(2) R ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 3 this subsection shall be construed to alter the per-4 missible purposes of furnishing a consumer report 5 described in section 604 of the Fair Credit Report-6 ing Act.’’; and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(c) JAMMING.—A credit repair organization may not 9 submit multiple disputes described in section 611 of the 10 Fair Credit Reporting Act of the same information unless 11 all of the following are true: 12 ‘‘(1) The consumer reporting agency or data 13 furnisher has had the time permitted under the Fair 14 Credit Reporting Act to conduct a reasonable inves-15 tigation on the prior dispute. 16 ‘‘(2) The consumer reporting agency or data 17 furnisher has returned the results of its investigation 18 to the consumer with respect to such dispute, unless 19 there are material changes to the information sub-20 mitted with the dispute. 21 ‘‘(3) The credit repair organization includes 22 with the resubmitted dispute a specific description of 23 what information is inaccurate.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 4144 IS SEC. 4. DISCLOSURES. 1 Section 405 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 2 (15 U.S.C. 1679c) is amended— 3 (1) in the written statement in subsection (a)— 4 (A) in the second undesignated paragraph, 5 by inserting ‘‘Credit repair organizations do not 6 provide any services that you cannot do yourself 7 for free.’’ after the period at the end of the 8 fourth sentence; 9 (B) in the eighth undesignated paragraph, 10 by striking ‘‘regulates’’ and inserting ‘‘and the 11 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection regu-12 late’’; and 13 (C) by inserting ‘‘The Bureau of Consumer 14 Financial Protection 1700 G St. NW, Wash-15 ington, DC 20552 Tel: 855–411–2372 TTY/ 16 TTD: 855–729–2372’’ after ‘‘20580’’; and 17 (2) in subsection (c)— 18 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 19 any recordings of telephone communications 20 with the consumer’’ before the period at the 21 end; and 22 (B) in paragraph (2)— 23 (i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘ 2’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘5’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:49 Mar 24, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 4144 IS (ii) by inserting ‘‘and any telephone 1 recordings with the consumer’’ after ‘‘con-2 sumer’s statement’’; 3 (iii) by striking ‘‘2’’ and inserting 4 ‘‘5’’; and 5 (iv) by striking ‘‘statement is signed 6 by the consumer’’ and inserting ‘‘statement 7 or the telephone recordings are created’’. 8 SEC. 5. CONSUMER CONTRACT REQUIRED. 9 Section 407 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 10 (15 U.S.C. 1679e) is amended by striking subsection (c) 11 and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘(c) C ONSUMER COPY OF CONTRACT AND COMMU-13 NICATIONS REQUIRED.— 14 ‘‘(1) C ONTRACT.—Any consumer who enters 15 into any contract with any credit repair organization 16 shall be given, by the organization— 17 ‘‘(A) a copy of the completed contract and 18 the disclosure statement required under section 19 405; and 20 ‘‘(B) a copy of any other document the 21 credit repair organization requires the consumer 22 to sign, 23 at the time the contract or the other document is 24 signed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 4144 IS ‘‘(2) C OMMUNICATIONS.—Any consumer de-1 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be given, by the orga-2 nization copies of all communications sent on behalf 3 of the consumer, at the time the communication is 4 sent.’’. 5 SEC. 6. NONCOMPLIANCE. 6 Section 408 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act 7 (15 U.S.C. 1679f) is amended by adding at the end fol-8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(d) LEGAL SERVICES WITHIN CREDIT REPAIR OR-10 GANIZATIONS.—A credit repair organization shall be sub-11 ject to this title regardless of whether the organization is, 12 or employs, an attorney who also provides legal services 13 to a consumer, except if such attorney is an attorney de-14 scribed in section 403(3)(B)(iv). 15 ‘‘(e) C REDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATIONS WITHOUT A 16 STATE LICENSE.—On or after January 1, 2026, no per-17 son may act as a credit repair organization unless such 18 person is licensed by a State.’’. 19 SEC. 7. CREDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATIONS 20 WITH FURNISHERS OF INFORMATION. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Credit Repair Organizations 22 Act (15 U.S.C. 1679 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 23 section 408 the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 4144 IS ‘‘SEC. 408A. CREDIT REPAIR ORGANIZATION COMMUNICA-1 TIONS WITH FURNISHERS OF INFORMATION. 2 ‘‘Disputes submitted to a person who furnishes infor-3 mation to a consumer reporting agency by or on behalf 4 of a credit repair organization shall meet the following re-5 quirements: 6 ‘‘(1) If sent by mail, the dispute shall be trans-7 mitted by first class mail and list on the envelope 8 the— 9 ‘‘(A) name of the credit repair organiza-10 tion; and 11 ‘‘(B) State license number of the credit re-12 pair organization, if applicable. 13 ‘‘(2) The dispute shall list the— 14 ‘‘(A) name of the credit repair organiza-15 tion; 16 ‘‘(B) State license number of the credit re-17 pair organization, if applicable; and 18 ‘‘(C) name of the consumer on whose be-19 half the dispute is submitted. 20 ‘‘(3) In the case of any additional communica-21 tion after an initial dispute, the additional commu-22 nication shall clearly and conspicuously identify any 23 material changes to the information provided in the 24 initial written dispute and include the information 25 described in paragraphs (1) and (2). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 4144 IS ‘‘(4) In the case where a credit repair organiza-1 tion sells or otherwise provides an online or paper 2 blank dispute form to be completed and filed by the 3 consumer, such form must contain the— 4 ‘‘(A) name and address of such credit re-5 pair organization; and 6 ‘‘(B) State license number of such credit 7 repair organization, if applicable. 8 ‘‘(5) In the case where the person responds to 9 a dispute submitted by a credit repair organization 10 seeking clarifying information, verifying if the cus-11 tomer has actually engaged with the credit repair or-12 ganization, or denying the accuracy of the under-13 lying claim, the credit repair organization shall re-14 spond in writing within 15 business days. 15 ‘‘(6) In the case where the credit repair organi-16 zation is an attorney, the attorney shall certify that 17 any communication is consistent with any informa-18 tion or documentation provided by the consumer, 19 confirmed based upon methods or means proven to 20 be historically reliable and accurate. 21 ‘‘(7) A credit repair organization, when sending 22 a dispute, shall disclose the fact that it is a credit 23 repair organization by placing the following disclo-24 sure on the dispute letter: ‘This communication was 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 4144 IS submitted or prepared on behalf of the consumer by 1 a credit repair organization, as defined in section 2 403 of the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 3 U.S.C. 1679a).’ ’’. 4 (b) C LERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 5 for the Credit Repair Organizations Act is amended by 6 inserting after the item relating to section 408 the fol-7 lowing: 8 ‘‘408A. Credit repair organization communications with furnishers of informa- tion.’’. SEC. 8. CIVIL LIABILITY. 9 Section 409(a)(1) of the Credit Repair Organizations 10 Act (15 U.S.C. 1679g(a)(1)) is amended— 11 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘A CTUAL DAM -12 AGES’’ and inserting ‘‘D AMAGES’’; 13 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 14 the end; 15 (3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 16 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 17 (4) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(C) damages of $500 for each violation of 19 this title.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Mar 21, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4144.IS S4144kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB