Reply #5: Banking

[Tinoire]

Banking

Pro-Consumer Bank Regulations
Letters of the 107th Congress, 1st Session
Letters
Bills Cosponsored in the 107th Congress, 1st Session
Bills Cosponsored

Pro-Consumer Bank Regulations

During the debate over bank deregulation in the 105th and 106th Congresses, Congressman Kucinich worked to protect pro-consumer banking reforms. In the 105th Congress, Kucinich fought to protect state banking regulations from being preempted by federal law. Put at risk by the bill were state laws and regulations protecting consumers from bounced check penalties, limiting liability for unauthorized debit card transactions, and limiting or prohibiting prepayment penalties when consumers sell their homes and pay off their existing mortgages. In cooperation with Consumers Union, Congressman Kucinich lobbied on behalf of state banking regulations and inserted clarification of the bill’s language to establish that it was not the intent of the bill to preempt state regulations.

Letters of the 107th Congress, 1st Session

July 6, 2001 - Congressman Kucinich signed on to a letter to Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill recommending reforms at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks to make them more open and accountable.

June 6, 2001 - Congressman Kucinich signed on to a letter to a letter to the Appropriations House and Urban Development subcommittee requesting the appropriation of $115 million in credit subsidy under the FHA multi-family loan guarantee program.

May 21, 2001 - Congressman Kucinich signed on to a letter to Congressman Ralph Regula asking the Congressman to support Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones’s request for $1 million for the Cleveland Botanical Garden in the fiscal year of 2002, HHS appropriations bill.

March 21, 2001 - Congressman Kucinich signed on to a letter to Conferees to urge adoption of the amendment to the Bankruptcy Bill. The provision would remove a penalty against an individual legally separated from his or her spouse who is applying for bankruptcy protection.

March 8, 2001 - Congressman Kucinich signed on to a letter to Chairman Alan Greenspan to urge the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to help remedy the increasing financial damage suffered by victims of predatory lending practices and the lack of any quality public data on the costs of home loans being provided in different neighborhoods and to various populations in the mortgage market.

Letters

June 12, 2000 - Congressman Kucinich co-signed a letter to President Clinton expressing his concern about the Federal Reserve rate hikes, with emphasis on effects of rising interest rates on incidence of unemployment among African Americans.

March 1, 2000 - Congressman Kucinich joined the Privacy Caucus, a group which promotes protecting consumer information privacy.

January 28, 2000 - Congressman Kucinich co-signed a letter to the President of the United States urging reform of the International Monetary Fund.

October 25, 1999 - Congressman Kucinich co-signed a letter to President Clinton asking him to veto the financial services modernization legislation because it does not go nearly far enough in ensuring that American consumers receive strong privacy protections.

September 19, 1999 - Congressman Kucinich co-signed a letter to the House and Senate conferees urging them to support the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to secure economic equality for all Americans.

Bills Cosponsored in the 107th Congress, 1st Session

H.R. 296 - Credit Card Consumer Protection Act. A bill that requires banks to mail monthly statements 30 days before the due date, to clearly indicate late charges, and to record dates statements were mailed and payments received.

H.R. 184 - College Student Credit Protection Act. A bill to limit credit lines to 20% of income for students, to permit “starter” credit cards, to eliminate fine print, and to require co-signed parents to agree to credit limit increases.

H.R. 4311 - Identity Theft Protection Act. A bill that obligates credit card issues to confirm address changes of cardholders and notify cardholder of requests for more cards in order to prevent identity theft.

H.R. 1306 - Wire Transfer Fairness and Disclosure Act of 2001. This bill amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require additional disclosures relating to exchange rates in transfers involving international transactions.

H.R. 865 - Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2001. A bill to provide that a person who is legally separated from his/her spouse and files individually for bankruptcy would not have his/her spouse’s income taken into account when in determining whether the person filing for bankruptcy meets the means test.

Bills Cosponsored

HR 4311 - Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2000: A bill to make it harder to “steal” someone’s identity and illegally charge goods to their credit card.

HR 3142 - College Student Credit Card Protection Act: A bill to put tighter limits on credit card companies’ business with students, and to prevent very high levels of credit card indebtedness found among college students.

HR 3823 - Federal Payday Loan Consumer Protection Amendments of 2000 - A bill to protect consumers from payday lending which consists of high interest, short-term loans that use paychecks as collateral.

HR 3027 - Russian Economic Restoration and Justice Act of 1999 - A bill to propose principals governing the provision of International Monetary Fund assistance to Russia.

HR 114 - Teller Fee Relief Act: A bill to prohibit banks from charging higher fees when consumers opt to use human tellers rather than ATMs.

HR 900 - Consumer Credit Card Protection Amendments of 1999: A bill to enhance consumer disclosures regarding credit card terms and charges. It will prohibit many deceptive practices used by credit card issuers to snag consumers. The bill would restrict issuance of credit cards to students, expand protections in connection with unsolicited credit cards and third-party checks and protect consumers from unreasonable practices that result in unnecessary credit costs or loss of credit.

HR 1276 - Credit Card Consumer Protection Act of 1999: A pro-consumer bill to prohibit hidden fees by credit card companies.

HR 1929 - Banking Privacy Act of 1999: A bill to control the disclosure by financial institutions of personal financial information of customers of the institutions.

HR 2386 - Fairness for Check Cashers Act: A bill to prohibit charging fees to consumers who try to deposit a check with insufficient funds.

HR 2446 - Better America Bonds Act of 1999: A bill to create a new kind of bond issuable by state and local governments. State and local governments would not have to pay interest to bondholders. Instead, holders of the bond would receive a tax credit from the federal government.

HR 1333 - First-time Homebuyer Affordability Act of 1999: A bill to allow people to borrow against their IRAs to buy a home for the first time.

HR 382 - Wire Transfer Fairness and Disclosure Act of 1999: A bill to require wire transfer companies to disclose fees.

HR 2644 - Personal Data Privacy Act of 1999: A bill to create an "opt-in" and requires companies and the government to obtain consumer approval before personal information is shared or sold.

http://www.house.gov/kucinich/issues/banking.htm