[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3190 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3190

    To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit insured 
  depository institutions from charging consumers fees for the use of 
                              debit cards.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 13, 2011

Mr. Cicilline introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prohibit insured 
  depository institutions from charging consumers fees for the use of 
                              debit cards.

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

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON FEES ON DEBIT CARDS.

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Act is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 51. PROHIBITION ON FEES ON DEBIT CARDS.

    ``(a) In General.--An insured depository institution may not charge 
a fee to any consumer for receiving or using a debit card.
    ``(b) Civil Liability.--Any entity that violates subsection (a) 
with respect to a consumer is liable to that consumer in an amount 
equal to the sum of--
            ``(1) any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a 
        result of the violation or damages of not less than $100 and 
        not more than $1,000;
            ``(2) such amount of punitive damages as the court may 
        allow; and
            ``(3) in the case of any successful action to enforce any 
        liability under this section, the costs of the action together 
        with reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.
    ``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms 
`consumer' and `debit card' have the meaning given such terms, 
respectively, under section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 
U.S.C. 1681a).''.
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