Pro Consumer Congress

I would suggest that Rep. John Lafalce {N.Y} and, Sen. Wellstone of Mn. are the 2 more focal consumer advocates. Rep. LaFalce is sponsoring H.R. 1060 which would overhaul the cc industry.

 

Explain this bill a little further please...what kind of overhauls???

 

Nevermind here it is...

H.R. 1060 - "Credit Card Predatory Practices Prevention Act of 2001"
Sponsor: Rep. John J. LaFalce (NY)
Introduced: March 15, 2001

Legislative Purpose and Summary
The Credit Card Predatory Practices Prevention Act of 2001 amends the credit card sections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act ("Truth in Lending") to address a number of abusive practices in the solicitation and administration of high-cost credit card accounts marketed to consumers with low incomes or damaged credit. Where current law is concerned primarily with how credit costs are calculated and disclosed to consumers, the Act seeks to identify and prohibit specific acts or practices in the process of making a credit offer or in administering a credit card account. The bill involves five general proposals-

Prohibited Acts and Practices: the Act adds a new "Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices" subsection to the credit card section of TILA (Sec. 127) that prohibits credit card issuers from engaging in an unfair or deceptive act of practice in connection with open-end credit card accounts.

Detailed Regulatory Guidelines: the Act directs the Federal Reserve Board to issue regulations defining unfair and deceptive practices for purposes of credit card accounts. The regulations must include approximately 16 separate acts or practices specifically identified by statute as unfair or deceptive ( points 3 and 4 below), as well as any additional acts or practices the Board determines to be "unfair, deceptive, intended to misrepresent or confuse the terms of a credit card offer."

Prohibited Practices in Credit Card Solicitations: the Act identifies nine specific actions involved in soliciting and extending credit cards to consumers as prohibited unfair or deceptive practices, including-



Upfront Payments-requiring consumers to pay application or processing fees as a condition to apply or receive a credit card account.

Required Purchases -requiring consumers to purchase memberships, products or services as a condition for receiving or applying for a credit card.

Hidden Annual Fees-representing that a card has "no annual fee" when the account requires payment of enrollment or processing fees or any other form of continuing service fee.

False Pre-Approvals-representing that a consumer is "pre-approved" for a credit card offer, when the offer is an invitation to apply for credit and not a firm offer of credit.

False Credit Offers-representing that a consumer qualifies to receive or apply for a specific credit offer, the terms of which are either not available to consumers generally, the terms are no longer being offered by the issuer, or the terms are not available upon initiation of the account, but have to be earned over time by the consumer with a positive credit record.

Misrepresented Benefits-representing that a credit card account include credit protection or other account-related benefits that are provided separately at additional cost.

Bait and Switch-issuing a credit account to a consumer that is less favorable than the terms in the direct solicitation that a consumer responded to without first notifying the consumer of the changed terms and permitting the consumer to accept or reject an alternative offer.
Prohibited Practices in Administering Credit Accounts: the Act identifies seven specific actions, or patterns of action, relating to the administration of credit card accounts as prohibited unfair and deceptive acts or practices, including-



Unauthorized charges: posting charges to a credit card account without the card holder's clear expressed consent.

Hidden product/membership charges: enrolling card holders in paid memberships or services, including credit insurance, without their expressed consent.

Late Payment Fee Schemes: engaging in a pattern or practices of actions designed to generate late fee charges and additional interest payments to consumer accounts, including withholding billing statements, delaying the posting of payments or scheduling payment due dates on weekends or holidays.

Interest Rate Increases: increasing the applicable interest rate of an account based upon actions or omissions of card holders that are unrelated to the credit card account and involve unrelated financial information reported by other creditors.

Refusal to Cancel Accounts: refusing to cancel or close a credit card account upon request.
Enforcement by State Attorneys General: the Act expands the enforcement authority available under TILA by authorizing State Attorney's General to bring actions in federal court on behalf of residents of their State against creditors who engage in the unfair and deceptive practices defined in statute and regulation. Currently, State AG's no not have authority to enforce TILA requirements except where States have enacted parallel State statutes.

 

Do a "google search". Use h.r. 1060 as the subject and it'll take you to Rep. LaFalce's website and it highlights all of the details.

 

That's it!

 

I LOVE this guy. We CAN help him get this passed. Many creditnetters in the past have wanted to 'do something' and I think this is as good a place to start as any. Call, e-mail, write your state reps and ask them to support this legislation. Get three people you know to do the same and ask them to get three people and so on and so on.