I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2201
To amend chapter 7 of title 11 of the United States Code, to exclude 
medically distress debtors from the application of the means test, to 
amend the Truth in Lending Act to require certain disclosures in connec-
tion with credit card applications and solicitations, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2005
Mr. RUPPERSBERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Finan-
cial Services, 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 amend chapter 7 of title 11 of the United States Code, 
to exclude medically distress debtors from the application 
of the means test, to amend the Truth in Lending Act 
to require certain disclosures in connection with credit 
card applications and solicitations, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Debt Pre-
vention and Education Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 11 OF THE UNITED STATES 
CODE. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 101(a)(2)(C) of the 
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection 
Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–8) is amended by adding 
at the end of section 707(b) of title 11 of the United 
States Code, as added by such Act, the following: 
‘‘(8)(A) No judge, United States trustee (or bank-
ruptcy administrator, if any), trustee, or other party in 
interest may file a motion under paragraph (2) if the debt-
or is a medically distressed debtor. 
‘‘(B) In this paragraph, the term medically distressed 
debtor’ means a debtor who, in any consecutive 12-month 
period during the 3 years before the date of the filing of 
the petition—
‘‘(i) had medical expenses for the debtor, a de-
pendent of the debtor, or a member of the debtor’s 
household that were not paid by any third party 
payor and were in excess of 25 percent of the debt-
or’s household income for such 12-month period; 
‘‘(ii) was a member of a household in which 1 
or more members (including the debtor) lost all or 
substantially all of the member’s employment or
business income for 4 or more weeks during such 
12-month period due to a medical problem of a 
member of the household or a dependent of the debt-
or; or 
‘‘(iii) was a member of a household in which 1 
or more members (including the debtor) lost all or 
substantially all of the member’s alimony or support 
income for 4 or more weeks during such 12-month 
period due to a medical problem of a person obli-
gated to pay alimony or support.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall take effect on April 20, 2005. 
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES IN CREDIT CARD SOLICITATIONS. 
Section 127(c) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 
U.S.C. 1637(c)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para-
graph (6); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) BROCHURE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the in-
formation required under paragraph (1), any 
application to open a credit card account for 
any person under an open end consumer credit 
plan, or a solicitation to open such an account
without requiring an application, that is mailed 
to consumers shall be accompanied by a bro-
chure that describes the following: 
‘‘(i) An explanation of credit scores 
and the negative effects that low credit 
scores can have on the consumer. 
‘‘(ii) An explanation of how being over 
a credit limit hurts the consumer. 
‘‘(iii) An explanation of how long it 
would take paying off a credit balance by 
just making the minimum payments re-
quired and the effect that negative amorti-
zation may have in extending such time. 
‘‘(B) BOARD.—The Board shall—
‘‘(i) prescribe regulations that estab-
lish the minimum requirements for the 
brochure required under subparagraph (A); 
and 
‘‘(ii) develop a model brochure that 
meets such requirements.’’.
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