H.R. 306 · 119th Congress

ESCRA Act

Introduced on Jan 9, 2025 by Sarah McBride (D-DE). 7 cosponsors, 4 of them from another party. Latest action (Jan 9, 2025): Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Jan 9, 2025
Cosponsors
7
4 from the other party
Policy area
Finance and Financial Sector
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Credit Repair Organizations Act to add additional protections against harmful practices within the credit repair organization industry, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jan 9, 2025). Public domain.

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.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Sarah McBrideD-DESponsor

Democrats · 3

Republicans · 4

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jan 9, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Jan 9, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Jan 9, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN FINANCIAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION10 reports
    $1.6M reported (all issues)
  2. American Bankers Association6 reports
    $14.2M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATIONAI match · 100%
  3. American Financial Services Association (AFSA)6 reports
    $230K reported (all issues)
  4. CONSUMER BANKERS ASSOCIATION6 reports
    $5.5M reported (all issues)
  5. Credit.com (formerly known as Progrexion ASG)6 reports
    $193K reported (all issues)
  6. EXPERIAN NORTH AMERICA, INC6 reports
    $2.3M reported (all issues)
  7. Trans Union LLC6 reports
    $3.5M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: TRANS UNION LLC$3.6M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  8. AARP5 reports
    $22.2M reported (all issues)
  9. SECURITY FINANCE CORPORATION OF SPARTANBURG4 reports
    $165K reported (all issues)
  10. OneMain Financial Group, LLC3 reports
    $180K reported (all issues)
  11. ACA INTERNATIONAL2 reports
    $340K reported (all issues)
  12. AMERICAN FINTECH COUNCIL2 reports
    $180K reported (all issues)
  13. American Association of Consumer Credit Professionals2 reports
    $30K reported (all issues)
  14. CONSUMER DATA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION2 reports
    $285K reported (all issues)
  15. Credit.com Holdings LLC2 reports
    $30K reported (all issues)
  16. American Consumer Credit Advocates, Inc.1 report
    $70K reported (all issues)
  17. CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, INC.1 report
    $1.3M reported (all issues)
  18. ONEMAIN HOLDINGS, INC.1 report
    $240K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.