Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-56.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 5, 2017
Protecting Americans from Credit Entanglements Act of 2017 or the PACE Act of 2017
This bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to extend that Act's requirements to real property retrofit loans. A "real property retrofit loan" is a loan that is: (1) secured by an interest in real property; (2) repayable in installment payments made concurrently with the payment of property taxes on the real property; and (3) used to finance real property retrofits, including energy-efficiency upgrades, renewable-energy installations, seismic retrofits, water-conservation upgrades, and other similar improvements.
Before extending a real property retrofit loan, the creditor must disclose that the loan will result in a lien on the real property securing the loan.
Source last updated: Aug 11, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.838 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.838 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.838 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.838 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.