California Consumer Finance Litigation : California Consumer Finance Litigation Lawyer & Attorney : O'Rielly & Roche Law Firm : San Francisco, Oakland, Bay Area, Los Angeles

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The "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights" has been reintroduced for 2009 in the House as H.R. 627 (a similar bill has been introduced in the Senate as S.B. 235).  The bill would make significant amendments to the Truth in Lending Act ("TILA") provisions governing issuance of consumer credit cards, including:

• requiring card issuers to give consumers 45 days notice of any interest rate increases;
• prohibiting card issuers from charging interest on debt that is paid during a grace period (so-called "double cycle billing);
• prohibiting card issuers from increasing rates retroactively on existing balances unrelated to a consumer's card account (so-called "universal default rate increase");
• requiring card issuers to mail billing statements 25 days before the due date and to consider timely any payment received before 5:00 p.m. on the due date;
• restricting terms that may be used in advertisements;
• requiring certain allocations of consumer payments; and
• limiting "over-the-limit" fees card issuers can charge consumers.

The House bill's sponsors note that recent Federal Reserve Rules would address many of the issues covered by the bill, but the Fed rules do not take effect until July 2010.