I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4413 
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to provide for enhanced disclosure 
under an open end credit plan. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2005 
Mr. MEEK of Florida (for himself and Mr. RYAN of Ohio) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Truth in Lending Act to provide for enhanced 
disclosure under an open end credit plan. 
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 ‘‘Credit Card Minimum 
Payment Notification Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ENHANCED DISCLOSURE UNDER AN OPEN END 
CREDIT PLAN. 
Section 127(b) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 
U.S.C. 1637(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(13) ENHANCED
DISCLOSURE
UNDER
AN 
OPEN END CREDIT PLAN.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A credit card issuer 
shall, with each billing statement provided to a 
cardholder in a State, provide the following on 
the front of the first page of the billing state-
ment in type no smaller than that required for 
any other required disclosure, but in no case in 
less than 8-point capitalized type: 
‘‘(i) A written statement in the fol-
lowing form: ‘Minimum Payment Warning: 
Making only the minimum payment will in-
crease the interest you pay and the time it 
takes to repay your balance.’. 
‘‘(ii) Either of the following: 
‘‘(I) A written statement in the 
form of and containing the informa-
tion described in item (aa) or (bb), as 
applicable, as follows: 
‘‘(aa) A written 3-line state-
ment, as follows: ‘A one thousand 
dollar ($1,000) balance will take 
17 years and 3 months to pay off 
at a total cost of two thousand 
five hundred ninety dollars and
thirty-five cents ($2,590.35). A 
two thousand five hundred dollar 
($2,500) balance will take 30 
years and 3 months to pay off at 
a total cost of seven thousand 
seven hundred thirty-three dol-
lars 
and 
forty-nine 
cents 
($7,733.49). A five thousand dol-
lar ($5,000) balance will take 40 
years and 2 months to pay off at 
a total cost of sixteen thousand 
three hundred five dollars and 
thirty-four cents ($16,305.34). 
This information is based on an 
annual percentage rate of 17 per-
cent and a minimum payment of 
2 percent or ten dollars ($10), 
whichever is greater.’. In the al-
ternative, a credit card issuer 
may provide this information for 
the 3 specified amounts at the 
annual percentage rate and re-
quired minimum payment that 
are applicable to the cardholder’s 
account. The statement provided
shall be immediately preceded by 
the statement required by clause 
(i). 
‘‘(bb) Instead of the infor-
mation required by item (aa), re-
tail credit card issuers shall pro-
vide a written 3-line statement to 
read, as follows: ‘A two hundred 
fifty dollar ($250) balance will 
take 2 years and 8 months to 
pay off at a total cost of three 
hundred twenty-five dollars and 
twenty-four cents ($325.24). A 
five hundred dollar ($500) bal-
ance will take 4 years and 5 
months to pay off at a total cost 
of seven hundred nine dollars and 
ninety cents ($709.90). A seven 
hundred fifty dollar ($750) bal-
ance will take 5 years and 5 
months to pay off at a total cost 
of one thousand ninety-four dol-
lars 
and 
forty-nine 
cents 
($1,094.49). This information is 
based on an annual percentage
rate of 21 percent and a min-
imum payment of 5 percent or 
ten dollars ($10), whichever is 
greater.’. In the alternative, a re-
tail credit card issuer may pro-
vide this information for the 3 
specified amounts at the annual 
percentage rate and required 
minimum payment that are appli-
cable to the cardholder’s account. 
The statement provided shall be 
immediately 
preceded 
by 
the 
statement required by clause (i). 
A retail credit card issuer is not 
required to provide this state-
ment if the cardholder has a bal-
ance of less than five hundred 
dollars ($500). 
‘‘(II) A written statement pro-
viding individualized information indi-
cating an estimate of the number of 
years and months and the approxi-
mate total cost to pay off the entire 
balance due on an open-end credit 
card account if the cardholder were to
pay only the minimum amount due on 
the open-ended account based upon 
the terms of the credit agreement. 
For purposes of this subclause only, if 
the account is subject to a variable 
rate, the creditor may make disclo-
sures based on the rate for the entire 
balance as of the date of the disclo-
sure and indicate that the rate may 
vary. In addition, the cardholder shall 
be provided with referrals or, in the 
alternative, with the ‘800’ telephone 
number of the National Foundation 
for Credit Counseling through which 
the cardholder can be referred, to 
credit counseling services in, or closest 
to, the cardholder’s county of resi-
dence. The credit counseling service 
shall be in good standing with the Na-
tional Foundation for Credit Coun-
seling or accredited by the Council on 
Accreditation for Children and Family 
Services. The creditor is required to 
provide, or continue to provide, the in-
formation required by this clause only
if the cardholder has not paid more 
than the minimum payment for 6 con-
secutive months, beginning after July 
1, 2002. 
‘‘(iii)(I) A written statement in the 
following form: ‘For an estimate of the 
time it would take to repay your balance, 
making only minimum payments, and the 
total amount of those payments, call this 
toll-free telephone number: (Insert toll-free 
telephone number).’. This statement shall 
be provided immediately following the 
statement required by clause (ii)(I). A 
credit card issuer is not required to provide 
this statement if the disclosure required by 
clause (ii)(II) has been provided. 
‘‘(II) The toll-free telephone number 
shall be available between the hours of 8 
a.m. and 9 p.m., 7 days a week, and shall 
provide consumers with the opportunity to 
speak with a person, rather than a record-
ing, from whom the information described 
in subclause (I) may be obtained. 
‘‘(III) The Federal Trade Commission 
shall establish not later than 1 month after
the date of the enactment of this para-
graph a detailed table illustrating the ap-
proximate number of months that it would 
take and the approximate total cost to 
repay an outstanding balance if the con-
sumer pays only the required minimum 
monthly payments and if no other addi-
tional charges or fees are incurred on the 
account, such as additional extension of 
credit, voluntary credit insurance, late fees, 
or dishonored check fees by assuming all of 
the following: 
‘‘(aa) A significant number of 
different annual percentage rates. 
‘‘(bb) A significant number of 
different account balances, with the 
difference between sequential exam-
ples of balances being no greater than 
$100. 
‘‘(cc) A significant number of dif-
ferent minimum payment amounts. 
‘‘(dd) 
That 
only 
minimum 
monthly payments are made and no 
additional charges or fees are incurred 
on the account, such as additional ex-
tensions of credit, voluntary credit in-
surance, late fees, or dishonored check 
fees. 
‘‘(IV) A creditor that receives a re-
quest for information described in sub-
clause (I) from a cardholder through the 
toll-free telephone number disclosed under 
subclause (I), or who is required to provide 
the information required by clause (ii)(II), 
may satisfy the creditor’s obligation to dis-
close an estimate of the time it would take 
and the approximate total cost to repay the 
cardholder’s balance by disclosing only the 
information set forth in the table described 
in subclause (III). Including the full chart 
along with a billing statement does not sat-
isfy the obligation under this paragraph. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) OPEN-END
CREDIT
CARD
AC-
COUNT.—The term ‘open-end credit card 
account’ means an account in which con-
sumer credit is granted by a creditor under 
a plan in which the creditor reasonably 
contemplates repeated transactions, the 
creditor may impose a finance charge from
time to time on an unpaid balance, and the 
amount of credit that may be extended to 
the consumer during the term of the plan 
is generally made available to the extent 
that any outstanding balance is repaid and 
up to any limit set by the creditor. 
‘‘(ii) RETAIL
CREDIT
CARD.—The 
term ‘retail credit card’ means a credit 
card that is issued by or on behalf of a re-
tailer, or a private label credit card, that is 
limited to customers of a specific retailer. 
‘‘(C) EXEMPTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) MINIMUM PAYMENT OF NOT LESS 
THAN
TEN
PERCENT.—This paragraph 
shall not apply in any billing cycle in which 
the account agreement requires a min-
imum payment of not less than 10 percent 
of the outstanding balance. 
‘‘(ii) NO
FINANCE
CHARGES.—This 
paragraph shall not apply in any billing 
cycle in which finance charges are not im-
posed.’’. 
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