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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Consumers’ 
Access to Credit Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the contractual doctrine of valid when made 
which, as applied to lending agreements, provides 
that a loan that is valid at inception cannot become 
usurious upon subsequent sale or transfer to another 
person; 
(2) this important and longstanding principle 
derives from the common law and its application has 
been a cornerstone of United States banking law for 
nearly 200 years, as provided in the case Nichols v. 
Fearson, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 103, 106 (1833), where 
the Supreme Court famously declared: ‘‘Yet the rule 
of law is everywhere acknowledged, that a contract 
free from usury in its inception, shall not be invali-
dated by any subsequent usurious transactions upon 
it.’’; 
(3) in 2016, the Solicitor General, in consulta-
tion with all Federal banking regulators, filed an 
amicus brief in the case of Midland Funding, LLC 
v. Madden, 136 S. Ct. 2505 (2016) (mem.), denying 
cert. to 786 F.3d 246 (2d Cir. 2015), that described 
the United States Court of Appeals for the Second 
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Circuit in that case ‘‘incorrect’’ with an ‘‘analysis 
reflect[ing] a misunderstanding’’ of section 85 of the 
National Bank Act and Supreme Court precedent, 
because it contradicted the contractual doctrine of 
valid when made; 
(4) the valid-when-made doctrine, by bringing 
certainty to the legal treatment of all valid loans 
that are transferred, greatly enhances liquidity in 
the credit markets by widening the potential pool of 
loan buyers and reducing the cost of credit to bor-
rowers at the time of origination; 
(5) a joint academic study from professors at 
Stanford, Fordham, and Columbia universities con-
cluded that the Madden v. Midland decision has al-
ready disproportionately affected low- and moderate- 
income individuals in the United States with lower 
FICO scores; and 
(6) if the valid-when-made doctrine is not re-
affirmed soon by Congress, the lack of access to safe 
and affordable financial services will force house-
holds in the United States with the fewest resources 
to seek financial products that are nontransparent, 
fail to inform consumers about the terms of credit 
available, and do not comply with State and Federal 
laws (including regulations). 
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SEC. 3. RATE OF INTEREST AFTER TRANSFER OF LOAN. 
(a) AMENDMENT TO THE REVISED STATUTES.—Sec-
tion 5197 of the Revised Statutes (12 U.S.C. 85) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A loan that 
is valid when made as to its maximum rate of interest 
in accordance with this section shall remain valid with re-
spect to such rate regardless of whether the loan is subse-
quently sold, assigned, or otherwise transferred to a third 
party, and may be enforced by such third party notwith-
standing any State law to the contrary.’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT
TO
THE HOME OWNERS’ LOAN 
ACT.—Section 4(g) of the Home Owners’ Loan Act (12 
U.S.C. 1463(g)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) A loan that is valid when made as to its max-
imum rate of interest in accordance with this subsection 
shall remain valid with respect to such rate regardless of 
whether the loan is subsequently sold, assigned, or other-
wise transferred to a third party, and may be enforced 
by such third party notwithstanding any State law to the 
contrary.’’. 
(c) AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION 
ACT.—Section 205(g) of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 
U.S.C. 1785(g)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(3) A loan that is valid when made as to its max-
imum rate of interest in accordance with this subsection 
shall remain valid with respect to such rate regardless of 
whether the loan is subsequently sold, assigned, or other-
wise transferred to a third party, and may be enforced 
by such third party notwithstanding any State law to the 
contrary.’’. 
(d) AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSUR-
ANCE ACT.—Section 27 of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Act (12 U.S.C. 1831d) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(c) A loan that is valid when made as to its max-
imum rate of interest in accordance with this section shall 
remain valid with respect to such rate regardless of wheth-
er the loan is subsequently sold, assigned, or otherwise 
transferred to a third party, and may be enforced by such 
third party notwithstanding any State law to the con-
trary.’’. 
SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act may be construed as limiting the 
authority or jurisdiction of the Office of the Comptroller 
of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpora-
tion, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys-
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tem, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or the 
National Credit Union Administration. 
Passed the House of Representatives February 14, 
2018. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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