Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open end consumer credit plan, and for other purposes.
Seeks to improve consumer protections against credit card industry abuses. Among its many proposed policies are better regulation of interest rate increases, increased protections for cardholders who pay on time, stricter guidelines against misleading terms in contracts and new congressional reporting requirements on industry profits, rates and fees.
2/7/2008--Introduced.
Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit a creditor from using certain adverse information, including information in a consumer report or any change in a consumer's credit score, as the basis for increa more...
Users Tracking [6]
Users who are tracking this bill are also tracking:
Committees
Amendments
This bill has no amendments.
Bill Status
| Introduced | ![]() | Voted on by House | ![]() | Voted on by Senate | ![]() | Considered By President | ![]() | Bill Becomes Law |
| February 07, 2008 |
In the News
February 19, 2008 Interest rates rise for lovers of plastic
Y., introduced the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 (HR 5244). The bill would ban credit-card issuers from raising customers' interest rates ...
February 19, 2008 New rules for credit card firms?
... the House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, has just introduced the "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008" (HR 5244). ...
Blog Coverage
May 05, 2008 Just 5 Smooth Stones and a Ton of Support
Maloney introduced the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 (HR 5244). The proposed legislation calls for comprehensive credit card reform. It's about time. The bill is aimed at preventing major credit industry abuses while ...
Source: Home and Consumer - ArcaMax Publishing
Was this article useful?
Yes or
No
May 05, 2008 Fed Tightening Credit Card Rules
She is the sponsor of the Credit Cardholdersâ Bill of Rights (HR 5244) that would place more aggressive consumer protections on the credit card industry. Fed Chairman Benjamin Bernanke stated that âconsumers relying on credit cards ...
Source: Vision Credit Education, Inc.
Was this article useful?
Yes or
No
(1 of 1 found it useful.)
May 03, 2008 American General Financial Services
American General Financial Services Inc the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced HR 5244, the Credit Cardholderâs Bill of Rights in February 2008. New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo charged First Premier ...







Rating Filter: 5 (What's this?)(Close help)
Comments
(What's this?)(Close help)
The credit card companies are out of control. A yes vote on this will bring unwarranted fees and intrest increase back to levels more consistant with the infraction.
Sure, and the card companies will respond by tightening credit and raising credit granting standards. I am in no way a defender of card issuers and their secret and variable "rules", but it is important to understand for every action there is an equal and OPPOSITE reaction. Card companies won't lose - they'll just deny credit to anyone with a sketchy credit score. People who might otherwise be able to get credit will be turned down. I don't think that is necessarily such a bad thing, because we all pay for those people. What I have never been able to understand is why normal contract law and the principles behind every other contract never apply to credit card contracts? Card companies can change the contract unilaterally anytime they want? It's ridiculous! Any other business that enters into a contract must abide by its terms, but some banks and card issuers are allowed to circumvent them. I have often wondered why cardholders can't sue for breach of contract? They should have the same remedies permitted to any other party to a contract, shouldn't they?
Passage of new restrictions will have 3 effects. (1) Cardholders that meet the terms of their credit accounts will be free from "any time for any reason" rate increases. (2) The extension of credit will be limited to subprime borrowers. (3) The terms of balance transfers and introductory rates will be less appealing for consumers, since payments above the minimum payments will be applied more fairly across multiple rate balances. Expect these rates to go up slightly.
Consumers will like the rules while lenders will not. Adding a little fairness to the process may be needed. A special note: some card issuers already adhere to internal standards that are quite fair. The fee harvester cards and other abusive products sold by a few lenders are what is most needed to be corrected.
Add A Comment