II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1659 

To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish a national usury rate 

for consumer credit transactions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 4, 2017 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish a national 

usury rate for consumer credit transactions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Consumers 

5 from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) attempts have been made to prohibit usu9 rious interest rates in America since colonial times; 


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1 (2) at the Federal level, in 2006, Congress en2 acted a Federal 36 percent annualized usury cap for 

3 servicemembers and their families for covered credit 

4 products, as defined by the Department of Defense, 

5 which curbed payday, car title, and tax refund lend6 ing around military bases; 

7 (3) notwithstanding such attempts to curb 

8 predatory lending, high-cost lending persists in all 

9 50 States due to loopholes in State laws, safe harbor 

10 laws for specific forms of credit, and the exportation 

11 of unregulated interest rates permitted by preemp12 tion; 

13 (4) due to the lack of a comprehensive Federal 

14 usury cap, consumers annually pay approximately 

15 $14,000,000,000 on high-cost overdraft loans, as 

16 much as approximately $7,000,000,000 on store17 front and online payday loans, $3,800,000,000 on 

18 car title loans, and additional amounts in unreported 

19 revenues on high-cost online installment loans; 

20 (5) cash-strapped consumers pay on average 

21 approximately 400 percent annual interest for pay22 day loans, 300 percent annual interest for car title 

23 loans, up to 17,000 percent or higher for bank over24 draft loans, and triple-digit rates for online install25 ment loans; 


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1 (6) a national maximum interest rate that in2 cludes all forms of fees and closes all loopholes is 

3 necessary to eliminate such predatory lending; and 

4 (7) alternatives to predatory lending that en5 courage small dollar loans with minimal or no fees, 

6 installment payment schedules, and affordable re7 payment periods should be encouraged. 

8 SEC. 3. NATIONAL MAXIMUM INTEREST RATE. 

9 Chapter 2 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 

10 1631 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 140B. MAXIMUM RATES OF INTEREST. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro14 vision of law, no creditor may make an extension of credit 

15 to a consumer with respect to which the fee and interest 

16 rate, as defined in subsection (b), exceeds 36 percent. 

17 ‘‘(b) FEE AND INTEREST RATE DEFINED.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec19 tion, the fee and interest rate includes all charges 

20 payable, directly or indirectly, incident to, ancillary 

21 to, or as a condition of the extension of credit, in22 cluding— 

23 ‘‘(A) any payment compensating a creditor 

24 or prospective creditor for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) an extension of credit or making 

2 available a line of credit, such as fees con3 nected with credit extension or availability 

4 such as numerical periodic rates, annual 

5 fees, cash advance fees, and membership 

6 fees; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) any fees for default or breach by 

8 a borrower of a condition upon which cred9 it was extended, such as late fees, creditor10 imposed not sufficient funds fees charged 

11 when a borrower tenders payment on a 

12 debt with a check drawn on insufficient 

13 funds, overdraft fees, and over limit fees; 

14 ‘‘(B) all fees which constitute a finance 

15 charge, as defined by rules of the Bureau in ac16 cordance with this title; 

17 ‘‘(C) credit insurance premiums, whether 

18 optional or required; and 

19 ‘‘(D) all charges and costs for ancillary 

20 products sold in connection with or incidental to 

21 the credit transaction. 

22 ‘‘(2) TOLERANCES.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a 

24 credit obligation that is payable in at least 3 

25 fully amortizing installments over at least 90 


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1 days, the term ‘fee and interest rate’ does not 

2 include— 

3 ‘‘(i) application or participation fees 

4 that in total do not exceed the greater of 

5 $30 or, if there is a limit to the credit line, 

6 5 percent of the credit limit, up to $120, 

7 if— 

8 ‘‘(I) such fees are excludable 

9 from the finance charge pursuant to 

10 section 106 and regulations issued 

11 thereunder; 

12 ‘‘(II) such fees cover all credit 

13 extended or renewed by the creditor 

14 for 12 months; and 

15 ‘‘(III) the minimum amount of 

16 credit extended or available on a cred17 it line is equal to $300 or more; 

18 ‘‘(ii) a late fee charged as authorized 

19 by State law and by the agreement that 

20 does not exceed either $20 per late pay21 ment or $20 per month; or 

22 ‘‘(iii) a creditor-imposed not sufficient 

23 funds fee charged when a borrower tenders 

24 payment on a debt with a check drawn on 


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1 insufficient funds that does not exceed 

2 $15. 

3 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS FOR INFLATION.— 

4 The Bureau may adjust the amounts of the tol5 erances established under this paragraph for in6 flation over time, consistent with the primary 

7 goals of protecting consumers and ensuring 

8 that the 36 percent fee and interest rate limita9 tion is not circumvented. 

10 ‘‘(c) CALCULATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) OPEN END CREDIT PLANS.—For an open 

12 end credit plan— 

13 ‘‘(A) the fee and interest rate shall be cal14 culated each month, based upon the sum of all 

15 fees and finance charges described in subsection 

16 (b) charged by the creditor during the pre17 ceding 1-year period, divided by the average 

18 daily balance; and 

19 ‘‘(B) if the credit account has been open 

20 less than 1 year, the fee and interest rate shall 

21 be calculated based upon the total of all fees 

22 and finance charges described in subsection 

23 (b)(1) charged by the creditor since the plan 

24 was opened, divided by the average daily bal25 ance, and multiplied by the quotient of 12 diVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Aug 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1659.IS S1659

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1 vided by the number of full months that the 

2 credit plan has been in existence. 

3 ‘‘(2) OTHER CREDIT PLANS.—For purposes of 

4 this section, in calculating the fee and interest rate, 

5 the Bureau shall require the method of calculation 

6 of annual percentage rate specified in section 

7 107(a)(1), except that the amount referred to in 

8 that section 107(a)(1) as the ‘finance charge’ shall 

9 include all fees, charges, and payments described in 

10 subsection (b)(1) of this section. 

11 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENTS AUTHORIZED.—The Bu12 reau may make adjustments to the calculations in 

13 paragraphs (1) and (2), but the primary goals of 

14 such adjustment shall be to protect consumers and 

15 to ensure that the 36 percent fee and interest rate 

16 limitation is not circumvented. 

17 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION OF CREDITOR.—As used in this 

18 section, the term ‘creditor’ has the same meaning as in 

19 section 702(e) of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 

20 U.S.C. 1691a(e)). 

21 ‘‘(e) NO EXEMPTIONS PERMITTED.—The exemption 

22 authority of the Bureau under section 105 shall not apply 

23 to the rates established under this section or the disclosure 

24 requirements under section 127(b)(6). 


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1 ‘‘(f) DISCLOSURE OF FEE AND INTEREST RATE FOR

2 CREDIT OTHER THAN OPEN END CREDIT PLANS.—In 

3 addition to the disclosure requirements under section 

4 127(b)(6), the Bureau may prescribe regulations requiring 

5 disclosure of the fee and interest rate established under 

6 this section. 

7 ‘‘(g) RELATION TO STATE LAW.—Nothing in this 

8 section may be construed to preempt any provision of 

9 State law that provides greater protection to consumers 

10 than is provided in this section. 

11 ‘‘(h) CIVIL LIABILITY AND ENFORCEMENT.—In addi12 tion to remedies available to the consumer under section 

13 130(a), any payment compensating a creditor or prospec14 tive creditor, to the extent that such payment is a trans15 action made in violation of this section, shall be null and 

16 void, and not enforceable by any party in any court or 

17 alternative dispute resolution forum, and the creditor or 

18 any subsequent holder of the obligation shall promptly re19 turn to the consumer any principal, interest, charges, and 

20 fees, and any security interest associated with such trans21 action. Notwithstanding any statute of limitations or 

22 repose, a violation of this section may be raised as a mat23 ter of defense by recoupment or setoff to an action to col24 lect such debt or repossess related security at any time. 


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1 ‘‘(i) VIOLATIONS.—Any person that violates this sec2 tion, or seeks to enforce an agreement made in violation 

3 of this section, shall be subject to, for each such violation, 

4 1 year in prison and a fine in an amount equal to the 

5 greater of— 

6 ‘‘(1) three times the amount of the total ac7 crued debt associated with the subject transaction; 

8 or 

9 ‘‘(2) $50,000. 

10 ‘‘(j) STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL.—An action to en11 force this section may be brought by the appropriate State 

12 attorney general in any United States district court or any 

13 other court of competent jurisdiction within 3 years from 

14 the date of the violation, and such attorney general may 

15 obtain injunctive relief.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF FEE AND INTEREST RATE FOR 

17 OPEN END CREDIT PLANS. 

18 Section 127(b)(6) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 

19 U.S.C. 1637(b)(6)) is amended by striking ‘‘the total fi20 nance charge expressed’’ and all that follows through the 

21 end of the paragraph and inserting ‘‘the fee and interest 

22 rate, displayed as ‘FAIR’, established under section 141.’’. 

Æ 


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