Amendment Applies Credit Card Protections To Small Biz
May 18th, 2009 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Politics & PolicyThe Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 627) passed the House more or less painlessly, after the consideration of a scant sixteen amendments or so, at the end of last month. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn. That body is currently considering the Credit CARD Act (S.414), which was offered by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) as an amendment in the nature of a substitute for the Maloney bill. All these pieces of legislation essentially do the same thing: impose some sort of rhyme and reason on the dozens of ways credit card issuers have found to extort money from their customers.
It was the eagle-eyed wonks over at the National Small Business Association (NSBA) who spotted a danger in the way the legislation was crafted – that is, the fact that the underlying Truth in Lending Act mostly applies to consumer transactions and some issuers might interpret that to mean that small business credit card users were exempt from the protections in this bill. To address that potential problem, the top two lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-ME), introduced an amendment that specifically includes small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Trade outfits love it, credit card companies don’t – no surprises there. The amendment and the bill are still under consideration on the Senate floor this week, where a vote is expected before the Memorial Day recess.
