[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8922 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8922

To require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection 
   to issue a final rule requiring any card issuer that issues a pre-
  approved credit card to a senior citizen to provide fraud alerts to 
              certain individuals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 2, 2024

   Mr. Higgins of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection 
   to issue a final rule requiring any card issuer that issues a pre-
  approved credit card to a senior citizen to provide fraud alerts to 
              certain individuals, 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 ``Janie Wynn Protecting Elders from 
Financial Exploitation Act''.

SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF SENIOR CITIZEN FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 
Protection, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shall issue a 
final rule requiring--
            (1) any card issuer that issues a pre-approved credit card 
        to a senior citizen to provide fraud alerts for such credit 
        card upon activation to--
                    (A) the cardholder; and
                    (B) except as provided in subsection (b), an 
                individual selected by the cardholder who is at least 
                25 years old and--
                            (i) is a relative or spouse of the 
                        cardholder; or
                            (ii) has provided a description to the card 
                        issuer of the nature of their relationship with 
                        the cardholder; and
            (2) each depository institution and credit union to provide 
        training to employees who perform fraud detection services on 
        how to identify account activity that is indicative of 
        financial exploitation of a senior citizen and notify any 
        senior citizen that possesses an account with the depository 
        institution or credit union within 24 hours of any such account 
        activity occurring in such account, including--
                    (A) the irregular use of--
                            (i) an automated teller machine;
                            (ii) a credit card;
                            (iii) an online banking service; or
                            (iv) a wire transfer;
                    (B) an irregular cash withdrawal;
                    (C) an irregular credit card charge;
                    (D) the absence of a regularly occurring deposit;
                    (E) account activity in a previously inactive 
                account;
                    (F) the addition of an authorized user to an 
                account;
                    (G) a change of address associated with an account;
                    (H) an inability to cover a charged payment due to 
                insufficient funds in an account;
                    (I) a request for a credit limit increase;
                    (J) a charged payment for the purchase of gift 
                cards or prepaid debit cards worth over $100 in total;
                    (K) an electronic payment from an account through 
                the Automated Clearing House network to a recipient 
                with no history of prior payment from such account; and
                    (L) a gap in the check number of checks cashed from 
                an account.
    (b) Exception.--The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 
Protection shall include in the rule required under subsection (a) a 
waiver of the requirements of paragraph (1)(B) of such subsection if--
            (1) the cardholder signs a waiver acknowledging an 
        increased risk of financial exploitation; and
            (2) the card issuer retains a copy of such waiver until at 
        least 5 years after the date that the pre-approved credit card 
        is deactivated.
    (c) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Cardholder; card issuer.--The terms ``cardholder'' and 
        ``card issuer'' have the meanings given such terms, 
        respectively, in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 
        U.S.C. 1602).
            (2) Credit union.--The term ``credit union'' means a 
        Federal credit union, a State credit union, or a State-
        chartered credit union (as such terms are defined, 
        respectively, in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act 
        (12 U.S.C. 1752)).
            (3) Depository institution.--The term ``depository 
        institution'' has the meaning given such term in section 3 of 
        the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813).
            (4) Exploitation; senior citizen.--The terms 
        ``exploitation'' and ``senior citizen'' have the meanings given 
        such terms, respectively, in section 303 of the Economic 
        Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (12 
        U.S.C. 3423).
            (5) Fraud alert.--The term ``fraud alert'' means a notice 
        provided by a card issuer to an individual of suspected 
        fraudulent activity connected to a credit card associated with 
        such individual and managed by such card issuer that--
                    (A) is communicated by means of a phone call, 
                email, or text message;
                    (B) describes the suspected fraudulent activity in 
                sufficient detail to alert the individual of such 
                activity, including account activity that is indicative 
                of financial exploitation of a senior citizen; and
                    (C) includes information on how to communicate with 
                the card issuer regarding the suspected fraudulent 
                activity at any time of the day and on any day of the 
                week.
            (6) Pre-approved credit card.--The term ``pre-approved 
        credit card'' means a credit card issued as a result of the 
        acceptance of an offer extended to an individual to apply for 
        such credit card based on a determination by the card issuer 
        that such individual likely satisfied the qualifications for 
        obtaining such credit card, including an offer extended to an 
        individual to apply for such credit card that grants elevated 
        or priority consideration for approval to the individual.
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