[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 599 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 599

  To amend the Consumer Credit Protection Act to make it unlawful to 
        require a credit card as a condition for doing business.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1999

  Mr. Fattah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Consumer Credit Protection Act to make it unlawful to 
        require a credit card as a condition for doing business.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cash Consumer Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds:
            (1) Forms of payment other than cash have become more 
        pervasive in commercial transactions initiated by consumers.
            (2) Forms of payment other than cash are not uniformly 
        available to all consumers.
            (3) Consequently, cash only consumers are unable to enter 
        into certain commercial transactions.

SEC. 3. CREDIT CARD REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 2 of title I of the Consumer Credit 
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 139A. CREDIT CARD REQUIREMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--No person may, in the course of a business 
transaction involving a sale or lease--
            ``(1) refuse to make the sale or lease because the 
        purchaser or lessee does not possess a credit card; or
            ``(2) demand a deposit in cash which is not reasonable.
    ``(b) Injunction.--An action may be brought to enjoin a person from 
taking action which is prohibited by subsection (a). If an injunction 
is awarded, the court may order the enjoined person to reimburse for 
money or property acquired in violation of subsection (a).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``139A. Credit card requirement.''.
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