I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4332
To protect consumers from exorbitant fees for basic financial services, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 13, 2000
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. WATERS, and Mr. MAR-
KEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Banking and Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To protect consumers from exorbitant fees for basic financial
services, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Financial Consumers’ Bill of Rights Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec.
1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec.
2. Findings and purpose.
Sec.
3. Prohibition on exorbitant late fees on credit card accounts.
Sec.
4. Prohibition on exorbitant fees for bounced checks.
Sec.
5. Fair ATM fees for consumers.
Sec.
6. Lifeline banking examination required under Community Reinvestment
Act of 1977.
Sec.
7. Preservation of bank fee report requirements.
Sec.
8. Prohibition on arbitration clauses imposed on consumers without their
consent.
Sec.
9. Amendment to privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Sec. 10. Improved availability of antifraud hotline information.
Sec. 11. Commission on alternatives to the use of Social Security numbers as
identifying numbers in public records.
Sec. 12. Three free teller transactions monthly.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following
findings:
(1) A survey conducted jointly by the Consumer
Federation of America and Consumer Action 1998
found that 67 of 116 credit card issuers charged late
fees in excess of $25 while only two of the credit
card issuers surveyed charged no late fee at all.
(2) The 1998 annual survey of Illinois voters by
the Coalition for Consumer Rights found that 77
percent of the voters supported a ban on surcharges
on a consumer for the use of an automated teller
machine operated by a financial institution other
than the institution holding the accounts of the con-
sumer.
(3) The 1999 survey of bank fees entitled ‘‘Big
Banks, Bigger Fees’’ by the United States Public
Interest Research Group found that large banks in-
creased the fee imposed on consumers for writing
checks on insufficient funds by 10 percent from
1997 to 1999.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON EXORBITANT LATE FEES ON
CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 127 of the Truth in Lend-
ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1637) is amended by adding at the
end the following new subsection:
‘‘(h) LIMITATION ON LATE FEES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any credit
card account under an open-end consumer credit
plan, the amount of any fee or additional finance
charge which may be imposed for the failure to
make a payment on an outstanding balance under
such account by a particular date or by the end of
a particular period shall not exceed the lesser of—
‘‘(A) the amount equal to two times the
amount most recently published by the Board
pursuant to paragraph (2); or
‘‘(B) the total balance of credit out-
standing with respect to such account as of
such date or the end of such period.’’.
‘‘(2) ANNUAL
DETERMINATION
OF
AVERAGE
COST.—The Board shall—
‘‘(A) obtain annually a sample of all credi-
tors which is representative on the basis of geo-
graphic location and asset size, of the cost to
creditors resulting from failures of consumers
to make payments on outstanding balances on
credit card accounts under open-end consumer
credit plans on a timely basis;
‘‘(B) on the basis of the sample obtained
under subparagraph (A), determine the average
cost to all creditors resulting from failures de-
scribed in such subparagraph; and
‘‘(C) publish such amount in the Federal
Register.’’.
(b) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS REQUIRED.—
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
shall prepare and submit to the Congress a report of the
results of each survey conducted and determination made
pursuant to section 127(h)(2).
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to payments on an
outstanding balance on a credit card account under an
open-end consumer credit plan which become due after the
end of the 6-month period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act.