Sponsors (8)
The bill lowers businesses' litigation exposure and may reduce some consumer costs, but it substantially limits private remedies and class-action enforcement for FCRA violations, shifting enforcement pressure to regulators and weakening individual deterrence.
Defendant companies (e.g., banks, credit bureaus) gain predictability and lower exposure to large FCRA judgments because punitive damages and attorney-fee awards are capped, reducing business uncertainty.
Consumers—especially low-income individuals—face lower litigation-related costs because damage awards and attorney-fee awards are capped, which could reduce litigation-driven price increases.
Victims of willful or negligent FCRA violations (consumers) will receive far smaller awards because punitive damages are removed and class and individual recoveries are capped.
Consumers and public-interest litigants may lose access to effective remedies because limits on attorney fees and class recoveries could make class actions economically unviable.
Taxpayers and government regulators may face higher enforcement burdens and costs if reduced private recoveries weaken deterrence and require more public enforcement.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Imposes dollar and percentage caps on individual and class recoveries and attorney fees under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and removes a punitive-damages paragraph for willful violations.
Official title: To amend the civil liability requirements under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to include requirements relating to class actions, and for other purposes.
Introduced October 17, 2025 by Barry D. Loudermilk · Last progress October 17, 2025
Caps monetary recoveries and attorney fees in Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) lawsuits, and adds specific limits for class actions. It removes a punitive-damages provision for willful violations and creates numeric ceilings on individual recoveries, total class recoveries (excluding fees), and combined costs plus attorney fees tied to either fixed dollar amounts or percentages of damages or the defendant’s net worth. The bill narrows remedies available to consumers and claimants under both willful and negligent violation provisions of the FCRA by (1) eliminating an existing punitive-damages paragraph, (2) limiting attorney fees to the lesser of $100,000 or 40% of damages, (3) capping total class recovery at the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the defendant’s net worth, and (4) applying the same class caps to negligent-liability suits as to willful-liability suits.