Laws on Credit Reporting May Be Toughened : Banking: Senators want to prevent abuses that consumers have been bitterly complaining about.

Members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, responding to a growing chorus of complaints about inaccurate consumer credit reports, said Tuesday that they will press for legislation to better protect those whose credit standing is at stake.

“The harm done to innocent individuals, and their inadequate recourse when reports are inaccurate or impermissibly obtained, focus our attention and compel us to action,” said Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.), chairman of the committee’s consumer and regulatory affairs subcommittee.

Dixon, speaking at a subcommittee hearing on the issue, said he intends to introduce legislation to strengthen the 1970 Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires credit bureaus to investigate complaints about the accuracy of their reports.

Sen. Richard Bryan (D-Nev.), another committee member, introduced a bill Tuesday that would require credit reporting agencies to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report once each year or whenever they are denied credit based on information in the report.

Most credit bureaus now charge $15 to $20 for copies of the reports. Bryan’s bill also would allow consumers to file civil charges against those who obtain credit reports under false pretenses.

Last week, TRW announced that, beginning in 1992, it will offer one free credit report each year to consumers who request them by mail or telephone.

Another committee member, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), has introduced legislation that would require bureaus to issue corrected reports within 30 days of being told of any errors. The bill would require notification of consumers if credit applications are rejected as a result of their reports.

At Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing, legislators heard more tales of pain caused by reports with false information, adding to a litany of such stories presented to lawmakers in recent months.

Mary Beth Rathert of Vienna, Va., said she learned in June that roughly half the credit accounts listed in her report had been obtained fraudulently by other people. After four months of calling and writing to credit bureau officials, her report still contains false information, she said.

Industry representatives said new legislation is unnecessary.

Sherman McCorkle, representing several bankers’ associations, said the law now “adequately protects the consumer involved in the credit reporting process while, in most instances, protecting the interests of creditors in obtaining credit information needed to make sound business judgments.” Like any compromise, he said, the law “has left neither creditors nor consumers completely satisfied.”

Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee