text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``National Heroes Credit Protection 
  Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CREDIT RATINGS OF MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE 
                COMPONENTS DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT OF CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS.
  
      (a) In General.--Title II of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
  (50 U.S.C. App. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
  following new section:
  
  ``SEC. 208. PROTECTION OF CREDIT RATINGS OF MEMBERS OF RESERVE 
                COMPONENTS DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT OF CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS.
  
      ``(a) Request for Military Service Deployment Explanation.--At any 
  time during or after serving on active duty in support of a contingency 
  operation, an eligible servicemember may request that a consumer 
  reporting agency include a military service deployment explanation with 
  respect to a qualifying account in the file of that servicemember at 
  the consumer reporting agency.
      ``(b) Responsibilities of Consumer Reporting Agencies.--Upon 
  receiving a request from an eligible servicemember under subsection 
  (a), a consumer reporting agency shall--
              ``(1) include a military service deployment explanation 
          with respect to a qualifying account in the file of that 
          servicemember and provide the military service deployment 
          explanation to each person who requests the credit score or 
          consumer report of the servicemember;
              ``(2) develop and maintain procedures for the referral to 
          other such agencies of any military service deployment 
          explanation received by the agency; and
              ``(3) notify the servicemember in writing that the 
          inclusion of any explanation or notation in the file of the 
          servicemember could potentially negatively affect the credit 
          rating of the servicemember and may not mitigate a low credit 
          score.
      ``(c) Duty of Reseller to Reconvey Military Service Deployment 
  Explanation.--A reseller shall include in any report of the reseller on 
  a servicemember any military service deployment explanation placed in 
  the file of that servicemember by another consumer reporting agency 
  pursuant to this section.
      ``(d) Acknowledgment of Military Service Deployment Explanation.--
  Any prospective user of a consumer credit report containing a military 
  service deployment explanation shall acknowledge such military service 
  deployment explanation.
      ``(e) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
              ``(1) The term `eligible servicemember' means a member of a 
          reserve component who serves on active duty outside the 
          continental United States in support of a contingency operation 
          under a call or order specifying a period of such service of 
          not less than 180 days (or who enters such service under a call 
          or order specifying a period of 180 days or less and who, 
          without a break in service, receives orders extending the 
          period of such service to a period of not less than 180 days).
              ``(2) The term `military service deployment explanation' 
          means a code generated by a consumer reporting agency that is 
          delivered in conjunction with a consumer report or credit score 
          to a user of the consumer report or credit score to indicate 
          that the consumer report or credit score of the consumer was 
          adversely affected during a period in which the consumer was a 
          servicemember serving on active duty outside the continental 
          United States in support of a contingency operation.
              ``(3) The term `contingency operation' has the meaning 
          given that term under section 101(a)(13) of title 10, United 
          States Code.
              ``(4) The term `active duty' has the meaning given that 
          term under section 101(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code.
              ``(5) The term `consumer reporting agency' has the meaning 
          given that term under section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 
          Act.
              ``(6) The term `reseller' has the meaning given that term 
          under section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
              ``(7) The term `qualifying account' means an account that 
          was opened by a servicemember before the date on which the 
          servicemember was deployed outside the continental United 
          States in support of a contingency operation, but only with 
          respect to obligations incurred before such date.''.
      (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
  such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 207 
  the following new item:
  
  ``Sec. 208. Protection of credit ratings of certain servicemembers.''.
      (c) Military Service Deployment Explanation Not to Affect Certain 
  Future Transactions.--Section 108 of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 518) is 
  amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting after 
  ``liability of that servicemember'' the following: ``, or the inclusion 
  of a military service deployment explanation in a file of the 
  servicemember at a consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 
  208,''.
  
              Passed the House of Representatives November 5, 2007.
  
              Attest:
  
                                              LORRAINE C. MILLER,
  
                                                                   Clerk.
target: National Heroes Credit Protection Act - Amends the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 to authorize a member of the reserves who is deployed outside the United States for 180 days or more in support of a contingency operation (servicemember) to request that a consumer reporting agency (CRA) include in that servicemember's file a military service deployment explanation (explanation) with respect to an account that was opened by the servicemember before such deployment.
  
  Requires: (1) a reseller of credit reporting information to include in any report on a servicemember any explanation placed in such servicemember's file by another CRA; and (2) any user of a consumer credit report containing such explanation to acknowledge the explanation.
feat_title: A bill to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to enhance the protection of credit ratings of members of the reserve component who serve on active duty in support of a contingency operation, and for other purposes.