21-day fix scheduled for House vote Tuesday

WASHINGTON (10/12/09)—A bill intended to fix a troublesome 21-day disclosure provision in the Credit CARD Act is scheduled to be considered by the House tomorrow.

The legislation, H.R. 3606, or the CARD Act Technical Corrections Act, has been placed on the House suspension calendar, generally reserved for bills not considered highly controversial.

H.R. 3606 was introduced by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and last week the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) sent a letter to the leadership of the House Financial Services Committee urging support for the measure.

The legislation would amend Section106 of the CARD Act, a provision that prohibits creditors from declaring a payment as being late unless the creditor adopts reasonable procedures to ensure that periodic statements are mailed or delivered to the consumer no later than 21 days before the payment due date.

As written, the section applies to all open-end loans, including general lines of credit, lines of credit associated with share draft and checking accounts, signature loans, and other forms of loans, not just credit cards.

Welch's bill would insert the words "a credit card account under" into Section 106, thereby removing its application from the other forms of open-end credit.

CUNA has been working closely with House leaders and Welch to bring the technical correction bill to a House vote. The group believes the provision was originally intended to cover only credit card accounts and was inadvertently changed during the legislative process.

CUNA has highlighted problems faced by credit unions due to complications caused by the current structure of the CARD Act provision and warned that credit union members could face increased costs and reduced services if technical corrections are not made.