Amd §§380-a & 380-j, Gen Bus L; amd §§2 & 352, Bank L
Prohibits a consumer reporting agency or lender from using the credit scores of members of an individual's social network to determine the credit worthiness of such individual.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2302
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 23, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. KAVANAGH, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered print-
ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer
Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law and the banking law, in
relation to prohibiting a consumer reporting agency or lender from
using certain information to determine an individual's credit worthi-
ness
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 380-a of the general business law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision (u) to read as follows:
3 (u) The term "members of a consumer's social network" means a group of
4 individuals authorized by a consumer to be part of his or her social
5 media communications and network.
6 § 2. Section 380-j of the general business law is amended by adding a
7 new subdivision (h) to read as follows:
8 (h) No consumer reporting agency shall collect, evaluate, report, or
9 maintain in the file on a consumer the credit worthiness, credit stand-
10 ing or credit capacity of members of the consumer's social network for
11 purposes of determining the credit worthiness of the consumer; the aver-
12 age credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity of members of
13 the consumer's social network; or any group score that is not the
14 consumer's own credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity.
15 The provisions of this subdivision shall be enforced concurrently by the
16 superintendent of financial services and the director of the division of
17 consumer protection and each shall utilize their consumer complaint and
18 assistance hotlines to document complaints by consumers who believe that
19 group credit ratings of their social media network are being used to
20 deny them credit.
21 § 3. Section 2 of the banking law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
22 sion 31 to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02186-01-9
S. 2302 2
1 31. Members of a borrower's social network. The term "members of a
2 borrower's social network" means a group of individuals authorized by a
3 borrower to be part of his or her social media communications and
4 network.
5 § 4. Section 352 of the banking law is amended by adding a new sixth
6 undesignated paragraph to read as follows:
7 No licensee shall collect, evaluate, report or maintain in the file on
8 a borrower the credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity of
9 members of the borrower's social network for purposes of determining the
10 credit worthiness of the borrower; the average credit worthiness, credit
11 standing or credit capacity of members of the borrower's social network;
12 or any group score that is not the borrower's own credit worthiness,
13 credit standing or credit capacity. The provisions of this paragraph
14 shall be enforced concurrently by the superintendent and the director of
15 the division of consumer protection and each shall utilize their consum-
16 er complaint and assistance hotlines to document complaints by borrowers
17 who believe that group credit ratings of their social media network are
18 being used to deny them credit. The superintendent shall ensure that the
19 credit scoring formulas filed with the department do not contain vari-
20 ables which account for internet viewing history as part of that formula
21 by asking the licensee to certify to that fact.
22 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
