On March 17, a bill was introduced in the United States Senate to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit negative credit reporting during the coronavirus health crisis. The bill, S.3508, is entitled The Disaster Protection for Workers’ Credit Act. It would provide for a four-month moratorium on negative credit reporting and a longer restriction for those experiencing “lasting financial hardship.” Further, it would allow consumers free, unlimited access to credit reports and credit scores for a year following the current crisis, and provide additional measures applicable to future major disasters.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and currently is before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. According to a statement by Sen. Schatz in a press release, “[o]ur bill will make sure people who fall behind on their bills won’t take a hit to their credit scores.” He further stated that “[p]rotecting credit scores now will give people a chance to rebuild their lives and our economy.”

As of the writing of this post, the text of the bill has not yet been released. We will provide additional updates as more information related to the bill becomes available.