I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 900
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to enhance consumer disclosures regard-
ing credit card terms and charges, to restrict issuance of credit cards
to students, to expand protections in connection with unsolicited credit
cards and third-party checks and to protect consumers from unreasonable
practices that result in unnecessary credit costs or loss of credit, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 2, 1999
Mr. LAFALCE (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. MALONEY of
New York, Mr. BENTSEN, Ms. LEE, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr.
GONZALEZ, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. BROWN of Califor-
nia, Mr. OLVER, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. SHOWS, Mr.
BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, and Mrs. MINK of Hawaii)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Banking and Financial Services
A BILL
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to enhance consumer
disclosures regarding credit card terms and charges, to
restrict issuance of credit cards to students, to expand
protections in connection with unsolicited credit cards
and third-party checks and to protect consumers from
unreasonable practices that result in unnecessary credit
costs or loss of credit, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Consumer Credit Card Protection Amendments of
1999’’.
(b) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C.
1601 et seq.).
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURES REGARDING MINIMUM MONTHLY
PAYMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 127(a)(3) of the Con-
sumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1637(a)(3)) is
amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘, or the method of determining the required mini-
mum payment amount, if a minimum payment is required
that is different from the amount of any finance charge,
and the charges or penalties, if any, which may be imposed
for failure by the obligor to pay the required finance
charge or minimum payment amount’’.
(b) REPAYMENT INFORMATION.—Section 127(b) (15
U.S.C. 1637(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(11) In a clear and conspicuous manner, re-
payment information that would apply to the out-
standing balance of the consumer under the credit
plan, including—
‘‘(A) the required minimum monthly pay-
ment on that balance, represented as both a
dollar figure and a percentage of that balance;
‘‘(B) the number of months (rounded to
the nearest month) that it would take to pay
the entire amount of that current balance if the
consumer pays only the required minimum
monthly payments and if no further advances
are made;
‘‘(C) the total cost to the consumer, includ-
ing interest and principal payments, of paying
that balance in full if the consumer pays only
the required minimum monthly payments and if
no further advances are made; and
‘‘(D) the following statement: ‘If your cur-
rent rate is a temporary introductory rate, your
total costs may be higher.’ ’’.
(c) 
MINIMUM
PAYMENT
AMOUNT.—Section
127(c)(1)(A) (15 U.S.C. 1637(c)(1)(A)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new clause:
‘‘(v) MINIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT.—
The method for determining the required
minimum payment amount to be paid for
each billing cycle, and the charge or pen-
alty, if any, to be imposed for any failure
by the obligor to pay the required mini-
mum payment amount.’’.
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF LATE PAYMENT DEADLINES AND
PENALTIES.
Section 127(b) (15 U.S.C. 1637(b)) is amended by
inserting after paragraph (11) (as added by section 2 of
this Act) the following new paragraph:
‘‘(12) Where a charge is to be imposed due to
the failure of the obligor to make payment on or be-
fore a required payment due date, the date that pay-
ment is due or, if different, the date on which a late
payment fee will be charged, shall be stated promi-
nently in a conspicuous location on the billing state-
ment, together with the amount of the charge to be
imposed if payment is made after such date.’’.
SEC. 4. WORLDWIDE WEB-BASED CREDIT CARD SOLICITA-
TIONS.
Section 127(c) (15 U.S.C. 1637(c)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and
(5) as paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow-
ing new paragraph:
‘‘(3) WORLDWIDE
WEB-BASED
APPLICATIONS
AND SOLICITATIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any worldwide web-
based solicitation to open a credit card account
for any person under an open end consumer
credit plan, the person making the solicitation
shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the
following—
‘‘(i) the information described in sub-
paragraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1);
and
‘‘(ii) the disclosures in paragraph (6)
of this subsection (as added by section 5 of
this Act).
‘‘(B) FORM OF DISCLOSURE.—The disclo-
sures required by subparagraph (A) shall—
‘‘(i) be readily accessible to consumers
in close proximity to the solicitation to
open a credit card account; and
‘‘(ii) be updated regularly to reflect
the current policies, terms, and fee
amounts applicable to the credit card ac-
count.’’.
SEC. 5. DISCLOSURES RELATED TO ‘‘TEASER RATES’’.
Section 127(c) (15 U.S.C. 1637(c)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraph (6) (as so re-
designated by section 4 of this Act) as paragraph
(7); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) (as so re-
designated by section 4 of this Act) the following
new paragraph:
‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL NOTICE CONCERNING ‘TEAS-
ER RATES’.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If any application or
solicitation for a credit card for which a disclo-
sure is required under this subsection offers, for
an introductory period of less than 1 year, an
annual percentage rate of interest which—
‘‘(i) is less than the annual percentage
rate of interest which will apply after the
end of such introductory period; or
‘‘(ii) in the case of an annual percent-
age rate which varies in accordance with
an index, which is less than the current
annual percentage rate under the index
which will apply after the end of such pe-
riod,
the application or solicitation shall contain the
disclosure contained in subparagraph (B) or
(C), as appropriate.