I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1510 

To require enhanced disclosure to consumers regarding the consequences 

of making only minimum required payments in the repayment of credit 

card debt, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 13, 2007 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. 

SCHWARTZ, Mr. ETHERIDGE, and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require enhanced disclosure to consumers regarding the 

consequences of making only minimum required payments in the repayment of credit card debt, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Credit Card Repay5 ment Act of 2007’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. ENHANCED CONSUMER DISCLOSURES REGARDING 

2 MINIMUM PAYMENTS. 

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

4 U.S.C. 1637(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(13) MINIMUM PAYMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Information regarding 

8 repayment of the outstanding balance of the 

9 consumer under the account, appearing in con10 spicuous type on the front of the first page of 

11 each such billing statement, and accompanied 

12 by an appropriate explanation, containing— 

13 ‘‘(i) the words ‘Minimum Payment 

14 Warning: Making only the minimum pay15 ment will increase the amount of interest 

16 that you pay and the time it will take to 

17 repay your outstanding balance.’; 

18 ‘‘(ii) the number of years and months 

19 (rounded to the nearest month) that it 

20 would take for the consumer to pay the en21 tire amount of that balance, if the con22 sumer pays only the required minimum 

23 monthly payments; 

24 ‘‘(iii) the total cost to the consumer, 

25 shown as the sum of all principal and in26 terest payments, and a breakdown of the 

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1 total costs in interest and principal, of pay2 ing that balance in full if the consumer 

3 pays only the required minimum monthly 

4 payments, and if no further advances are 

5 made; 

6 ‘‘(iv) the monthly payment amount 

7 that would be required for the consumer to 

8 eliminate the outstanding balance in 36 

9 months if no further advances are made; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(v) a toll-free telephone number at 

12 which the consumer may receive informa13 tion about accessing credit counseling and 

14 debt management services. 

15 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE RATES.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

17 (ii), in making the disclosures under sub18 paragraph (A) the creditor shall apply the 

19 interest rate in effect on the date on which 

20 the disclosure is made. 

21 ‘‘(ii) TEMPORARY RATES.—If the in22 terest rate in effect on the date on which 

23 the disclosure is made is a temporary rate 

24 that will change under a contractual provi25 sion specifying a subsequent interest rate 

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1 or applying an index or formula for subse2 quent interest rate adjustment, the cred3 itor shall apply the interest rate in effect 

4 on the date on which the disclosure is 

5 made for as long as that interest rate will 

6 apply under that contractual provision, and 

7 then shall apply the adjusted interest rate, 

8 as specified in the contract. 

9 ‘‘(iii) INDEXED RATES.—If the con10 tract applies a formula that uses an index 

11 that varies over time, the value of such 

12 index on the date on which the disclosure 

13 is made shall be used in the application of 

14 the formula. 

15 ‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENTS AND TOLERANCES.—In 

16 prescribing regulations to carry out this paragraph, 

17 the Board shall take into account the Board’s au18 thority under this title to provide adjustments and 

19 tolerances so as to prevent any injustice when a vio20 lation of the guidelines is not intentional and results 

21 from a bona fide error notwithstanding the mainte22 nance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any 

23 such error.’’. 

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1 SEC. 3. ACCESS TO CREDIT COUNSELING AND DEBT MAN2 AGEMENT INFORMATION. 

3 (a) GUIDELINES REQUIRED.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Board of 

6 Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the 

7 Federal Trade Commission (hereafter in this section 

8 referred to as the ‘‘Board’’ and the ‘‘Commission’’, 

9 respectively) shall jointly, by rule, regulation, or 

10 order, issue guidelines for the establishment and 

11 maintenance by creditors of a toll-free telephone 

12 number for purposes of the disclosures required 

13 under section 127(b)(13) of the Truth in Lending 

14 Act, as added by this Act. 

15 (2) APPROVED AGENCIES.—Guidelines issued 

16 under this subsection shall ensure that referrals pro17 vided by the toll-free number include only those 

18 agencies approved by the Board and the Commission 

19 as meeting the criteria under this section. 

20 (b) CRITERIA.—The Board and the Commission shall 

21 only approve a nonprofit budget and credit counseling 

22 agency for purposes of this section that— 

23 (1) demonstrates that it will provide qualified 

24 counselors, maintain adequate provision for safe25 keeping and payment of client funds, provide ade26 quate counseling with respect to client credit probmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 lems, and deal responsibly and effectively with other 

2 matters relating to the quality, effectiveness, and fi3 nancial security of the services it provides; 

4 (2) at a minimum— 

5 (A) is registered as a nonprofit entity 

6 under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue 

7 Code of 1986; 

8 (B) has a board of directors, the majority 

9 of the members of which— 

10 (i) are not employed by such agency; 

11 and 

12 (ii) will not directly or indirectly ben13 efit financially from the outcome of the 

14 counseling services provided by such agen15 cy; 

16 (C) if a fee is charged for counseling serv17 ices, charges a reasonable and fair fee, and pro18 vides services without regard to ability to pay 

19 the fee; 

20 (D) provides for safekeeping and payment 

21 of client funds, including an annual audit of the 

22 trust accounts and appropriate employee bond23 ing; 

24 (E) provides full disclosures to clients, in25 cluding funding sources, counselor qualificamstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 tions, possible impact on credit reports, any 

2 costs of such program that will be paid by the 

3 client, and how such costs will be paid; 

4 (F) provides adequate counseling with re5 spect to the credit problems of the client, in6 cluding an analysis of the current financial con7 dition of the client, factors that caused such fi8 nancial condition, and how such client can de9 velop a plan to respond to the problems without 

10 incurring negative amortization of debt; 

11 (G) provides trained counselors who— 

12 (i) receive no commissions or bonuses 

13 based on the outcome of the counseling 

14 services provided; 

15 (ii) have adequate experience; and 

16 (iii) have been adequately trained to 

17 provide counseling services to individuals 

18 in financial difficulty, including the mat19 ters described in subparagraph (F); 

20 (H) demonstrates adequate experience and 

21 background in providing credit counseling; 

22 (I) has adequate financial resources to pro23 vide continuing support services for budgeting 

24 plans over the life of any repayment plan; and 

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1 (J) is accredited by an independent, na2 tionally recognized accrediting organization. 

Æ 

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