Title: Transparency in Military Lending Act of 2017
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Transparency in Military Lending Act of 2017
This bill requires a creditor to provide to a member of the Armed Forces on active regular, reserve, or National Guard duty or such member's dependent, with respect to any extension of consumer credit, and to obtain the member's or dependent's signed acknowledgement of: (1) a statement that the Department of Defense (DOD) and each service branch offers a variety of financial counseling services; (2) a statement that other, potentially lower interest rate loans may be available through other financial institutions and military relief societies; (3) contact information for the nearest DOD financial counseling office; and (4) a statement of the actual cost of the extension of credit when paid off at different points over time.
DOD shall prepare a list of DOD financial counseling offices and make such list available to creditors and the public.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2697 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2697

     To amend title 10, United States Code, to require additional 
 disclosures by creditors when lending to members of the Armed Forces 
             and their dependents, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 2017

  Mr. Kildee introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 10, United States Code, to require additional 
 disclosures by creditors when lending to members of the Armed Forces 
             and their dependents, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transparency in Military Lending Act 
of 2017''.

SEC. 2. TRANSPARENCY IN LENDING TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND 
              THEIR DEPENDENTS.

    (a) Transparency and Disclosures.--Section 987(c) of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(3) Additional disclosures.--
                    ``(A) In general.--With respect to any extension of 
                consumer credit described in paragraph (1), a creditor 
                shall provide to the member or dependent each of the 
                following pieces of information, orally and in writing:
                            ``(i) A statement that the Department of 
                        Defense and each service branch offers a 
                        variety of financial counseling services.
                            ``(ii) A statement that other, lower 
                        interest rate loans, including potentially 0 
                        percent interest loans, may be available 
                        through other financial institutions and 
                        military relief societies.
                            ``(iii) Contact information for the nearest 
                        Department of Defense financial counseling 
                        office.
                            ``(iv) A statement of the actual cost of 
                        the extension of credit, prepared as an 
                        amortization table showing what the cost to the 
                        member or dependent will be if the extension of 
                        credit is paid off at different points over 
                        time.
                    ``(B) Format of disclosures.--The written 
                disclosures required under clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) 
                of subparagraph (A) shall be provided on single sheet 
                of paper and be in a bold, 14-point font.
                    ``(C) Signed acknowledgment.--With respect to any 
                extension of consumer credit described under paragraph 
                (1), a creditor may not issue the credit unless the 
                member or dependent signs a separate acknowledgment 
                next to each piece of information described in 
                paragraph (3)(A) acknowledging that the member or 
                dependent has read each piece of information.
                    ``(D) List of financial counseling offices.--The 
                Secretary of Defense shall prepare a list of Department 
                of Defense financial counseling offices and make the 
                list available to creditors and the public.
                    ``(E) Transparency for payday loans and vehicle 
                loans.--In this paragraph, the term `consumer credit' 
                shall include `payday loans' and `vehicle title loans' 
                as those terms were defined in section 232.3 of title 
                32, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on July 
                1, 2015.''.
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