I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3914
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to prevent credit card issuers from
advertising and offering one type of credit card and then issuing another
type of credit card without the informed consent of the consumer, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 14, 2000
Mr. MENENDEZ 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 prevent credit card
issuers from advertising and offering one type of credit
card and then issuing another type of credit card without
the informed consent of the consumer, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Credit
Card Applications Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FAIRNESS IN CREDIT AND CHARGE CARD APPLICA-
TIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 127(c)(1) of the Truth in
Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1637(c)(1)) is amended by adding
at the end the following new subparagraphs:
‘‘(C) ELECTION OF MINIMUM AMOUNT OF
CREDIT LIMIT.—If a credit card account estab-
lished pursuant to an application or solicitation
to which subparagraph (A) applies would be
subject to a maximum dollar amount limitation
on the amount of the credit which is authorized
to be extended with respect to such account
(hereafter in this subparagraph referred to as
the ‘credit limit’), the following provisions shall
apply:
‘‘(i) The application or solicitation
shall disclose to the consumer that—
‘‘(I) a credit limit will or may be
applicable with respect to such ac-
count; and
‘‘(II) the consumer has the right
to state the lowest amount of the
credit limit which such consumer is
willing to accept if the credit card ac-
count is established.
‘‘(ii) A completed application or solici-
tation submitted by a consumer may not
be processed by a credit card issuer unless
the application or solicitation contains—
‘‘(I) an explicit statement by the
consumer, in the format prescribed by
the 
Board 
pursuant 
to 
section
122(c)(3), of the lowest amount of
any credit limit that the consumer is
willing to accept; or
‘‘(II) an explicit positive state-
ment by the consumer that the con-
sumer has no preference with regard
to the amount of a credit limit.
‘‘(iii) If a credit card issuer is unwill-
ing to open a credit card account with a
credit limit equal to or greater than an
amount indicated by the consumer as the
lowest amount the consumer is willing to
accept, the credit card issuer may not issue
a credit card on the basis of such applica-
tion or solicitation.
‘‘(D) DIFFERENT TYPE, DESIGNATION, OR
BRAND
OF
CREDIT
CARD
AND
DIFFERENT
TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—If an application or
solicitation to which subparagraph (A) applies
may result in the issuance to a consumer of a
different type, designation, or brand of credit
card (such as a ‘‘Classic card’’, ‘‘Gold card’’, or
‘‘Platinum card’’) than the type, designation, or
brand of credit card to which such application
or solicitation relates, or the issuance of a card
subject to different terms or conditions (such as
a different rate of interest, annual fee, or other
fees) than the terms and conditions described in
the application or solicitation, the following pro-
visions shall apply:
‘‘(i) The application or solicitation
shall disclose to the consumer that—
‘‘(I) the submission of the appli-
cation or solicitation may result in the
issuance to the consumer of a dif-
ferent type, designation, or brand of
credit card than the type, designation,
or brand of credit card to which such
application or solicitation relates or a
credit card subject to different terms
and conditions than the terms and
conditions disclosed in such applica-
tion or solicitation; and
‘‘(II) the consumer has the right
to state whether or not the consumer
is willing to accept such other credit
card.
‘‘(ii) The application or solicitation
shall contain (for each type, designation, or
brand of credit card which could be issued
on the basis of the submission of such ap-
plication or solicitation and the full range
of terms and conditions to which such card
may be subject) all the information and
disclosures which would be required under
this subsection and subsection (e) (in the
format required under section 122(c)) if
the application or disclosure relates to such
other type, designation, or brand of credit
card;
‘‘(iii) A completed application or solic-
itation submitted by a consumer may not
be processed by a credit card issuer unless
the application or solicitation contains an
explicit statement by the consumer, in the
format prescribed by the Board pursuant
to section 122(c)(3), that the consumer is
or is not willing to accept a different type,