[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 192 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 192

 To amend title 9, United States Code, with respect to consumer credit 
                             transactions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 25, 2001

Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. Leahy) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 9, United States Code, with respect to consumer credit 
                             transactions.

    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 ``Consumer Credit Fair Dispute 
Resolution Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. CONSUMER CREDIT TRANSACTIONS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 1 of title 9, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``and `commerce' 
        defined'' and inserting ``, `commerce', `consumer credit 
        transaction', and `consumer credit contract' defined''; and
            (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 
        following: ``; `consumer credit transaction', as herein 
        defined, means the right granted to a natural person to incur 
        debt and defer its payment, where the credit is intended 
        primarily for personal, family, or household purposes; and 
        `consumer credit contract', as herein defined, means any 
        contract between the parties to a consumer credit 
        transaction.''.
    (b) Agreements To Arbitrate.--Section 2 of title 9, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``A written'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--A written''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Consumer Credit Contracts.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, 
        a written provision in any consumer credit contract evidencing 
        a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a 
        controversy thereafter arising out of the contract, or the 
        refusal to perform the whole or any part thereof, shall not be 
        valid or enforceable.
            ``(2) Limitation.--Nothing in this section shall prohibit 
        the enforcement of any written agreement to settle by 
        arbitration a controversy arising out of a consumer credit 
        contract, if such written agreement has been entered into by 
        the parties to the consumer credit contract after the 
        controversy has arisen.''.
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