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Legislation Center

The following bills pending in the 110th Congress are among the most important designed to end unfair and abusive lending practices. For each bill, we offer up-to-date information about its status and links to comments and action alerts by our Partner organizations.

S.2753 Credit Card Reform Act of 2008
S.2636 The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
H.R.5244 The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights
H.R.3915 Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007
S.2136 Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007
H.R.3609 Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007
S.1782 and H.R.3010 (Identical Bills) Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007
H.R.946 Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act

S.2753 Credit Card Reform Act of 2008

Introduced: March 12, 2008
Sponsor: Sen. Robert Menendez [D, NJ]
Status: Referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

AFFIL Partners support S.2753 The undersigned consumer, civil rights and labor organizations write to commend [Sen. Menendez] for introducing the Credit Card Reform Act of 2008. As the U.S. economy balances precariously on the brink of recession, this important legislation will protect financially vulnerable families from many harmful practices that credit card companies use to unjustifiably increase fees and interest rates.

S.2636 The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008

Introduced: February 13, 2008
Sponsor: Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV]
Status: Failed to achieve cloture in a vote on February 28, 2008. Achieved cloture by a vote of 94-1 on April 1, 2008, meaning the Senate will begin open debate about the bill. Title IV removed from the bill on April 3, 2008 by a vote of 58-36. Senate passes the bill on April 10, 2008 by a vote of 84-12.
Note: Title IV of this act is identical to S.2136, the Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007, introduced on October 3, 2007 by Senator Richard Durbin [D, IL].

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

Partner Coalition letter, April 2, 2008 (PDF) "Senate Ignores Help for Homeowners, Bankruptcy Change the Most Effective Solution"

Partner Coalition letter to Senator Reid supporting S.2636 "We are writing to commend you and your colleagues for recognizing the urgency of the housing foreclosure crisis facing this country and for proposing a comprehensive legislative approach to help stem it. We are supportive of S. 2636, the Foreclosure Prevention Act, and in particular want to emphasize our support for Title IV, which will allow for modification of home mortgages in bankruptcy."

Press release from the Center for Responsible Lending "Compromise Bill Permits Court-Supervised Modifications, Would Save 600,000 Homes"

Take action!

Visit the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to tell the Senate to expand S.2636.

H.R.5244 The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights

Introduced: February 07, 2008
Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D, NY-14]
Status: First Hearing held March 13, 2008; Second Hearing held April 17, 2008

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

Several AFFIL Partners call Maloney bill a strong step in the right direction “New legislation introduced today by House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) curbs some of the most abusive credit card lending practices, consumer groups said.”

Elizabeth Warren and other consumer advocates testify at Subcommittee hearings on H.R.5244 “For too long, the most aggressive credit card issuers have had a free rein to craft new terms to ensnare unsuspecting customers. In the absence of baseline rules such as those proposed in H.R. 5244, some credit card issuers have boosted profits by developing new terms that are unfair, often devious, and sometimes legally deceptive. This is a hearing about banning those practices to ensure real freedom and competition in the credit card market.”

H.R.3915 Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007

Introduced: October 22, 2007
Sponsor: Rep. R. Bradley Miller [D, NC-13]
Status: Passed by House on November 15, 2007; Referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

National Consumer Law Center and other Partners oppose H.R. 3915 "We write to express our opposition to H.R. 3915, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory ending Act of 2007. We greatly appreciate efforts to reduce predatory lending and to restore balance to the mortgage market, however the bill will not stop predatory lending if it passes in its current form. Unfortunately, the weak remedies and damaging preemption
in the bill leave us no choice but to oppose it."

The Center for Responsible Lending urges a stronger bill “We continue to have concerns about key weaknesses in H.R. 3915, and we will be joining allies in urging the Senate to pass a stronger bill. We must ensure that any final bill protects state laws, holds Wall Street accountable for buying abusive loans, and provides meaningful remedies for homeowners when brokers and lenders break the law. We also need to close any loopholes that would allow lenders to continue offering inappropriate products to families already burdened with debt, such as "option" adjustable-rate mortgages. And we need to ensure the bill has meaningful prohibitions on steering and the incentives that contribute to broker abuses.”

S.2136 Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007

Introduced: October 03, 2007
Status: Added to S.2636, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, as Title IV. Removed from the bill by a full Senate Vote, 58 - 36, April 3, 2008. Voted on by the Committee on the Judiciary on April 3, 2008; passed the Committee 10-9 along party lines.
Sponsor: Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL]

See S.2636 for Partner Perspectives.

View Bill >>
News Coverage | Blog Coverage

H.R.3609 Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007

Introduced: September 20, 2007
Sponsor: Rep. R. Bradley Miller [D, NC-13]
Status: Introduced; Approved by the House Judiciary Committee on December 12, 2007, by a party-line vote of 17 - 15. No hearings were held by the Committee.

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

April 22, 2008 Coalition Letter (PDF) We, the undersigned organizations, strongly urge you to support the bipartisan substitute ersion of H.R. 3609, the “Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act.” This legislation will help hundreds of thousands of families stay in their homes while
they repay their mortgage debt. It will also help avoid the decreased property values and increased crime in neighborhoods that come with concentrations of foreclosures.

Center for Responsible Lending H.R. 3609 “will prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from losing their homes by allowing them access to bankruptcy relief.”

Take Action!

Take action through the Center for Responsible Lending.

S.1782 and H.R.3010 (Identical Bills) Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007

Senate Side

Introduced: July 12, 2007
Sponsor: Sen. Russell Feingold [D, WI]
Status: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; Hearing held December 5, 2007.

House Side

Introduced: July 12, 2007
Sponsor: Rep. Henry Johnson [D, GA-4]
Status: Referred to Judiciary Committee; Hearing held October 25, 2007.

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

Public Citizen Sample Support Letter “I am writing to urge you to support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007. This bill would help consumers by eliminating pre-dispute binding mandatory arbitration (BMA) clauses in consumer and employment contracts. Binding mandatory arbitration clauses in credit card, employment, and insurance contracts force individuals to forfeit their right to a trial by judge or jury if dangerous products, services or workplaces harm them. BMA does not help ordinary people, but benefits big corporate interests like national banks and insurance companies.”

Take Action!

Visit Public Citizen to take action.

H.R.946 Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act

Introduced: February 08, 2007
Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D, NY-14]
Status: Referred to Committee on Financial Services

AFFIL Partner Perspectives

The Center for Responsible Lending supports H.R.946 “Our nation's major banks and credit unions are making unsolicited, high-cost loans to their checking account holders when their account balance dips below zero, generating enormous fees for the banks and frequently driving their customers deeper into the negative.”

Read more from Open Congress

Full bill, co-sponsors and more from Thomas
News Coverage | Blog Coverage from Open Congress