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Senate Finance reviews H.385 to give victims a path for ‘coerced debt’ relief and authorize bank holds
Summary
Senators heard an extended presentation and stakeholder testimony on H.385, a two-part bill that would (1) create a consumer-protection pathway for victims of coerced debt (domestic abuse, trafficking, vulnerable adults) and (2) authorize covered financial institutions to impose short-term holds on suspicious transactions; committee members asked for more input from creditors, advocates and regulators before amendments and votes.
The Senate Finance Committee opened an extensive review of H.385, a bill that would create legal remedies and creditor procedures for victims of "coerced debt" and would establish a mechanism for financial institutions to impose limited holds on suspicious transactions when they reasonably suspect financial exploitation.
A committee reporter explained the bill contains two principal parts: (1) a new subchapter under consumer-protection law that defines "coerced debt" (secured and unsecured debts incurred in the name of a debtor as a result of domestic abuse, human trafficking or exploitation of a vulnerable adult) and sets documentation standards (police report, court order, or sworn professional certification) and creditor timelines for investigation; and (2) suspicious-transaction/financial-exploitation holds that…
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