[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3977 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3977

 To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish limits on certain fees 
  with regard to credit card accounts under open-end consumer credit 
                     plans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 29, 2009

 Ms. Sutton (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, 
Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Hare, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Hastings of Florida, 
  Mr. Sires, Mr. Courtney, and Ms. Markey of Colorado) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish limits on certain fees 
  with regard to credit card accounts under open-end consumer credit 
                     plans, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Credit Card Fee Limitation and 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ESTABLISHED.

    (a) In General.--Section 127 of the Truth in Lending Act (U.S.C. 
1637) is amended by inserting after subsection (r) (as added by the 
Credit CARD Act of 2009) the following new subsection:
    ``(s) Limitations on Fees and Other Actions.--
            ``(1) Prohibition on certain fees.--A creditor may not 
        impose any of the following on any credit card account under an 
        open-end consumer credit plan:
                    ``(A) Any fee directly or indirectly related to the 
                failure of the consumer to use the credit card to 
                obtain an extension of credit during any period.
                    ``(B) Any fee directly or indirectly related to the 
                failure of the consumer to carry an outstanding balance 
                from any billing cycle to another.
                    ``(C) Any fee directly or indirectly related to the 
                failure of the consumer to obtain a minimum amount of 
                credit under such account during any specified period.
            ``(2) No-effect cancellation of account upon introduction 
        of annual fee.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If, in the case of a credit card 
                account under an open-end consumer credit plan which 
                did not require the payment of an annual fee under the 
                terms of such plan at the time the account was first 
                opened, a creditor imposes an annual fee at any time 
                after such account is opened, the consumer may--
                            ``(i) cancel such account within 45 days of 
                        receiving notice of such fee imposition; and
                            ``(ii) pay any outstanding balance on the 
                        account at the time of cancellation in 
                        accordance with the terms in effect at the time 
                        of such cancellation.
                    ``(B) No adverse effects.--No creditor may take any 
                action with respect to any consumer who cancels a 
                credit card account in accordance with subparagraph 
                (A), as a direct or indirect result of such 
                cancellation, which would have any adverse effect on 
                such consumer and such consumer's ability to obtain 
                credit under a credit card account under an open-end 
                consumer credit plan.
            ``(3) Reasonable annual fees.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The amount of any annual fee 
                that a card issuer may impose with respect to a credit 
                card account under an open-end consumer credit plan, 
                shall be reasonable.
                    ``(B) Rulemaking required.--The Board, in 
                consultation with the Comptroller of the Currency, the 
                Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
                Corporation, the Director of the Office of Thrift 
                Supervision, and the National Credit Union 
                Administration Board, shall issue final rules not later 
                than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
                section, to establish standards for assessing whether 
                the amount of any annual fee is reasonable.
                    ``(C) Considerations.--In issuing rules required by 
                this section, the Board shall consider--
                            ``(i) the purported reason the creditor is 
                        instituting an annual fee;
                            ``(ii) if the credit card account had an 
                        annual fee at the opening of the account; and
                            ``(iii) such other factors as the Board may 
                        deem necessary or appropriate.''.
    (b) Limitation on Adverse Effects of Cancellation on Credit 
Score.--Section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681g) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) Limitation on Adverse Effects of Cancellation on Credit 
Score.--No consumer reporting agency or other person who develops a 
credit score (as defined in subsection (f)(2)) for any consumer may 
take any action with respect to, or make any determination based on, 
the cancellation by the consumer of a credit card account under an 
open-end consumer credit plan in accordance with section 127(s)(2) 
which would result in the development or distribution of a credit score 
for such consumer which is lower than a credit score that would result 
for such consumer without taking into account such cancellation.''.
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