I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 996
To amend the Consumer Credit Protection Act to assure meaningful disclo-
sures of the terms of rental-purchase agreements, including disclosures 
of all costs to consumers under such agreements, to provide certain 
substantive rights to consumers under such agreements, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Mr. JONES of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. ROSS, and Ms. HOOLEY of 
Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Consumer Credit Protection Act to assure 
meaningful disclosures of the terms of rental-purchase 
agreements, including disclosures of all costs to con-
sumers under such agreements, to provide certain sub-
stantive rights to consumers under such agreements, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Rental Pur-
chase Agreement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The rental-purchase industry provides a 
service that meets and satisfies the demands of 
many consumers. 
(2) Each year, approximately 2,300,000 United 
States households enter into rental-purchase trans-
actions and over a 5-year period approximately 
4,900,000 United States households will do so. 
(3) Competition among the various firms en-
gaged in the extension of rental-purchase trans-
actions would be strengthened by informed use of 
rental-purchase transactions. 
(4) The informed use of rental-purchase trans-
actions results from an awareness of the cost thereof 
by consumers. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is to assure 
the availability of rental-purchase transactions and to as-
sure simple, meaningful, and consistent disclosure of rent-
al-purchase terms so that consumers will be able to more 
readily compare the available rental-purchase terms and 
avoid uninformed use of rental-purchase transactions, and 
to protect consumers against unfair rental-purchase prac-
tices.
SEC. 3. CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION ACT. 
The Consumer Credit Protection Act is amended by 
adding at the end the following new title: 
‘‘TITLE X—RENTAL-PURCHASE 
TRANSACTIONS
‘‘Sec. 1001. Definitions. 
‘‘Sec. 1002. Exempted transactions. 
‘‘Sec. 1003. General disclosure requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 1004. Rental-purchase disclosures. 
‘‘Sec. 1005. Other agreement provisions. 
‘‘Sec. 1006. Right to acquire ownership. 
‘‘Sec. 1007. Prohibited provisions. 
‘‘Sec. 1008. Statement of accounts. 
‘‘Sec. 1009. Renegotiations and extensions. 
‘‘Sec. 1010. Point-of-rental disclosures. 
‘‘Sec. 1011. Rental-purchase advertising. 
‘‘Sec. 1012. Civil liability. 
‘‘Sec. 1013. Additional grounds for civil liability. 
‘‘Sec. 1014. Liability of assignees. 
‘‘Sec. 1015. Regulations. 
‘‘Sec. 1016. Enforcement. 
‘‘Sec. 1017. Criminal liability for willful and knowing violation. 
‘‘Sec. 1018. Relation to other laws. 
‘‘Sec. 1019. Effect on government agencies. 
‘‘Sec. 1020. Compliance date.
‘‘SEC. 1001. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘For purposes of this title, the following definitions 
shall apply: 
‘‘(1) ADVERTISEMENT.—The term ‘advertise-
ment’ means a commercial message in any medium 
that promotes, directly or indirectly, a rental-pur-
chase agreement but does not include price tags, 
window signs, or other in-store merchandising aids. 
‘‘(2) AGRICULTURAL PURPOSE.—The term ‘ag-
ricultural purpose’ includes—
‘‘(A) the production, harvest, exhibition, 
marketing, transformation, processing, or man-
ufacture of agricultural products by a natural 
person who cultivates plants or propagates or 
nurtures agricultural products; and 
‘‘(B) the acquisition of farmlands, real 
property with a farm residence, or personal 
property and services used primarily in farm-
ing. 
‘‘(3) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 
‘‘(4) CASH
PRICE.—The term ‘cash price’ 
means the price at which a merchant, in the ordi-
nary course of business, offers to sell for cash the 
property that is the subject of the rental-purchase 
transaction. 
‘‘(5) CONSUMER.—The term ‘consumer’ means 
a natural person who is offered or enters into a rent-
al-purchase agreement. 
‘‘(6) DATE
OF
CONSUMMATION.—The term 
‘date of consummation’ means the date on which a 
consumer becomes contractually obligated under a 
rental-purchase agreement.
‘‘(7) INITIAL PAYMENT.—The term ‘initial pay-
ment’ means the amount to be paid before or at the
‘‘(2) A brief description of the rental property, 
which shall be sufficient to identify the property to 
the consumer, including an identification or serial 
number, if applicable, and a statement indicating 
whether the property is new or used. 
‘‘(3) A description of any fee, charge or penalty, 
in addition to the periodic payment, that the con-
sumer may be required to pay under the agreement, 
which shall be separately identified by type and 
amount. 
‘‘(4) A clear and conspicuous statement that 
the transaction is a rental-purchase agreement and 
that the consumer will not obtain ownership of the 
property until the consumer has paid the total dollar 
amount necessary to acquire ownership. 
‘‘(5) The amount of any initial payment, which 
includes the first periodic payment, and the total 
amount of any fees, taxes, or other charges, required 
to be paid by the consumer. 
‘‘(6) The amount of the cash price of the prop-
erty that is the subject of the rental-purchase agree-
ment, and, if the agreement involves the rental of 2 
or more items as a set (as may be defined by the 
Board in regulation) a statement of the aggregate 
cash price of all items shall satisfy this requirement.