HR 306 119th Congress House Finance and Financial Sector

ESCRA Act

Introduced: January 9, 2025 Introduced by: McBride, Sarah Democratic · Delaware See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jan 9, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Jan 9, 2025

Introduced in House

Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Ending Scam Credit Repair Act or the ESCRA Act

This bill revises the Credit Repair Organizations Act and creates additional requirements for credit repair organizations (CROs).

Under current law, it is illegal for a person (including a CRO) to make false or misleading statements regarding a consumer’s creditworthiness or standing to a consumer reporting agency or to a consumer credit provider. The bill additionally prohibits making such statements to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, or law enforcement. To be subject to this prohibition, the bill also requires such statements to be made knowingly.

The bill also revises CRO obligations to consumers. A CRO is prohibited from charging a consumer for a service (e.g., getting inaccurate information removed from a credit report) until the CRO provides proof of success not less than six months after providing the service. The bill also requires additional disclosures to consumers, requires the retention of any recorded telephone calls, and increases the time records must be retained from two to five years. In addition, consumers must be given copies of all communications sent on their behalf.

Under the bill, all persons must be licensed by a state to act as a CRO. The bill also restricts a CRO’s ability to submit multiple credit disputes regarding the same information.

The bill also sets a minimum liability amount for damages of $500 for each violation of the Credit Repair Organizations Act.

What's happening now January 9, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Financial Services Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 66

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

EMERGENT STRATEGIES
for LEXINGTON LAW · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30) 2026
EMERGENT STRATEGIES
for CREDIT.COM (FORMERLY KNOWN AS PROGREXION ASG) · Utah · 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30) 2026
CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. INC. DBA AMERICA'S CREDIT UNIONS
for CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, INC. DBA AMERICA'S CREDIT UNIONS · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30) 2026
BALLARD PARTNERS
for AMERICAN CONSUMER CREDIT ADVOCATES, INC. · Florida · 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30) 2026
EXPERIAN NORTH AMERICA
for EXPERIAN NORTH AMERICA · District of Columbia · 4th Quarter (Oct 1 - Dec 31) 2025
BALLARD PARTNERS
for AMERICAN CONSUMER CREDIT ADVOCATES, INC. · Florida · 2nd Quarter (Apr 1 - June 30) 2026