I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6139 
To create a Federal charter for National Consumer Credit Corporations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 18, 2012 
Mr. LUETKEMEYER (for himself and Mr. BACA) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To create a Federal charter for National Consumer Credit 
Corporations, 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 Credit Ac-
cess, Innovation, and Modernization Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE; AND INTENT. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Studies by the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation (FDIC), National Bureau of Economic 
Research, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:22 Jul 20, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6139.IH
H6139
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
and other credible parties have shown that roughly 
half of all American families, including not only 
lower and moderate income families but also a large 
segment of middle and higher income families who 
have poor credit scores and limited disposable in-
comes, are literally living paycheck-to-paycheck, 
lacking adequate savings and other resources to 
cover unplanned expenses that frequently arise in 
every household. 
(2) These consumers (in this Act referred to as 
‘‘underserved consumers’’) include those who are 
‘‘unbanked’’, having neither a checking or savings 
account at a depository institution, and those who 
are ‘‘underbanked’’, having such an account and fre-
quently having higher incomes, while nonetheless 
needing to rely on nondepository financial institu-
tions for short-term, small loans and other credit 
products and financial services they desperately 
need, but generally cannot obtain from traditional 
banking institutions. 
(3) Credit alternatives for underserved con-
sumers often are limited and not well suited to their 
particular needs and in some instances lack any 
statutory consumer protections. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:22 Jul 20, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6139.IH
H6139
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(4) Programs by the FDIC and other parties to 
expand access to small loans and other financial 
products or services for underserved consumers 
through banking institutions have had very limited 
success because banks generally have been unable to 
make affordable small personal loans on a wide-
spread, commercially viable basis to these higher 
risk consumers, most of whom may not even qualify 
for a loan under the high credit standards regulators 
necessarily require insured depositories to maintain. 
(5) To the extent that depository institutions 
offer underserved consumers affordable small loans 
and other financial products or services on a com-
mercially viable basis, they should be encouraged to 
do so, but it must be recognized that overcoming the 
practical business obstacles for depositories to offer 
such products or services appears to be quite dif-
ficult at best for most depositories, and given the 
massive scope of the short-term credit needs of such 
consumers, depositories most likely will be unable to 
provide affordable small loans and other financial 
products or services for a significant number of 
them. 
(6) Efforts of governmental, nonprofit, and pri-
vate sector institutions to help underserved con-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:22 Jul 20, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6139.IH
H6139
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
sumers manage their personal finances more effec-
tively through financial education and counseling 
programs also are important and must continue, but 
given the tremendous number of consumers who face 
significant ongoing financial challenges, most such 
underserved consumers are likely to be unable to 
overcome their financial difficulties through such ef-
forts. 
(7) Nondepository creditors historically have 
been primarily State regulated, are not federally in-
sured, generally pose little or no systemic or tax-
payer risk, typically have lower operating costs and 
can employ less restrictive credit standards than de-
positories, and are a major source of short-term, 
small loans and financial products or services for un-
derserved consumers, providing such consumers an-
nually with billions of dollars in credit, but the exist-
ing State-based regulatory system for such non-
depository creditors in many cases increases the 
credit costs for a consumer and limits available cred-
it alternatives. 
(8) Nondepository creditors currently lack the 
authority available to National banks to operate in-
novatively and efficiently on a multistate or nation-
wide basis using a single lending charter subject to 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:22 Jul 20, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6139.IH
H6139
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
strong uniform Federal lending regulations instead 
of widely differing State laws. 
(9) Differing State licensing and lending laws 
often limit the types of credit products or services 
nondepository creditors may offer, prevent loans 
from being provided on a commercially viable basis, 
stifle innovation, reduce competition, and leave un-
derserved consumers with a limited choice of prod-
ucts or services that in many cases are not well suit-
ed to their personal needs. 
(10) The credit costs for underserved con-
sumers, which are relatively high because of their 
greater credit risks, also are further adversely im-
pacted substantially by the costs creditors incur in 
complying with the nationwide patchwork of dif-
ferent State regulatory requirements, virtually none 
of which are the same and can be conflicting, dupli-
cative, and excessive. 
(11) Nondepository creditors that focus their 
lending on serving underserved consumers can be 
adequately regulated by Federal statutory and regu-
latory provisions, and it is in the National interest 
and will greatly benefit the millions of underserved 
consumers who have pressing needs for better and 
more affordable credit options for Congress to adopt 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:22 Jul 20, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6139.IH
H6139
jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS