H.R. 5689 — Shutdown Guidance for Financial Institutions Act

This section directs the Federal financial regulators (i.e., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and National Credit Union Administration) to jointly issue, within 180 days of enactment and in consultation with state banking regulators, shutdown guidance for regulated financial institutions encouraging them to (1) work with consumers and businesses affected by a shutdown (defined as a lapse in appropriations exceeding 24 hours); (2) recognize hardships in debt payments such as mortgages, student loans, car loans, business loans, or credit cards; (3) prudently modify existing loan terms or extend new credit; and (4) prevent harmful credit reporting for such modifications. The section further requires the regulators to issue a press release publicizing the guidance within 24 hours of any shutdown's start; submit to Congress, within 90 days after a shutdown ends, a joint report analyzing the guidance's effectiveness; and update the guidance within 180 days of that report if shortcomings are identified. Affected consumers include furloughed or excepted federal employees, District of Columbia employees not receiving pay due to the shutdown, and employees of federal contractors (i.e., parties to federal government contracts other than the government itself, per 41 U.S.C. §7101) or other businesses experiencing substantial pay reductions; affected businesses include federal contractors or others with substantial income reductions due to the shutdown.

This section specifies that the budgetary effects of this Act, for purposes of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, are to be determined by reference to the latest statement titled “Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation” submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee prior to the vote on passage.