Washington, D.C. —- Congressman G. K. Butterfield is working to ensure that victims of personal data privacy breaches are not only provided with free credit reports, but also with the affected consumer’s credit score.
Butterfield raised the issue up yesterday during the House Subcommittee on Trade and Consumer Protection’s debate and markup of the Data Accountability and Trust Act. The bill, which was approved unanimously by the subcommittee, would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to further develop security policies and procedures for businesses that store sensitive personal data such as names, social security numbers, dates of birth and credit card numbers.
The bill would also direct the FTC to establish a standard method for destroying obsolete non-electronic data, and would also require credit-reporting agencies to submit their security policies and security breach notification procedure to the FTC.
According to a Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, nearly 261 million records have been breached since 2005.
Butterfield said that under the bill, any person whose personal data is compromised would be entitled to receive a free credit report from a credit-reporting agency. While that would help, Butterfield said it is also important for these people to also receive a copy of their credit score.
“A credit score can help provide a much clearer picture about where you stand,” Butterfield said. “And when your personal information has been compromised, it’s only fair that you should have as clear and complete a picture as possible.”
During debate, Butterfield offered and immediately withdrew an amendment that would require free credit scores in the hopes that language can be worked out and included in bill when it is debated and marked up by the full House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush assured Butterfield he would work with him to include this requirement.