In an unusual split of our two West Orange County conservative Republican
Congressmen, U.S. Representative Ed Royce, 40th District of California,
serving Los Alamitos and Rossmoor, voted against the Credit Cardholders'
Bill of Rights Act of 2009. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican, 46 District of
California, serving Seal Beach, voted in favor of the bill which passed the
house late last week. The bill now goes to the Senate.

All but 1 House Democrat voted in favor of the measure and were
joined by 105 Republicans, making this one of the most bipartisan votes this
session. A total of 69 Republicans voted against the bill, including Royce.
The final count was 357 to 70.

As one might imagine, the banking industry lobbied heavily against the bill.
In a concession to the industry, the bill's effective date was postponed for one
year. Read the Library of Congress summary below for all the details.

Your Editors believe it is important to publish our legislator's votes on
major bills and, if their positions seem contrary to public sentiment, we
will always request a statement explaining that position. This decision to
request a statement is subjective by nature. If our legislators choose to send us a
statement, we will include it in our article. Our goal here is not to take a position, but rather to explain what the
bill is, and how and why, in their own words, our representatives voted on it. We will provide the official summary of the
bill so that our readers can come to their own conclusions. Your editors
believe that there is no shortage of one sided and partisan reporting on political issues. Hopefully our readers will find here different, better, and less partisan reporting than that which is published elsewhere.

For this article we requested a statement from Ed Royce's Press Secretary
in Washington, but his office did not respond. Dana
Rohrabacher voted with the overwhelming majority and we did not
see the need for a statement from his office.

Some writers in published reports assert that Royce received
substantial contributions from the banking industry, the reason
for his no vote on this bill. One writer reported that Royce received
$2,506,414 from the banking industry. The time over which these
contributions were received by Royce was not specified. We have not
verified this assertion and we make no claims to its accuracy. Since
Royce's office was unresponsive to our requests for explanation of his
votes we cannot speculate as to his reasoning or motives for voting against
the bill.

The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009 does the following:
Prohibits a creditor from increasing any annual percentage rate of interest
(APR) applicable to the existing balance on an open end consumer credit card
account unless specified conditions are met.

Allows a creditor to increase an APR on the existing credit card balance
only if the increase is due solely to: (1) a change in index; (2) expiration
of the promotional rate; (3) payment was not received during the 30-day
grace period after the due date; or (4) failure to comply with a workout
plan. Prohibits any such APR increase from exceeding the APR applicable to
the particular category of transactions on the day before the effective date
of the workout plan.

Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to prescribe
standards governing such workout plans.

Requires a 45-day advance notice of credit card account rate increases,
except one resulting from a change in index.

States that, with certain exceptions, written notice of an increase in any
annual percentage rate of interest shall be effective at the end of the
one-year period beginning when the account is opened.

Prohibits any significant contract change from taking effect unless the
creditor provides a written notice fully describing the change at least 45
days before the change takes effect.

Prohibits imposition of a finance charge, with certain exceptions, upon a
credit card account balance that is based on balances for days in billing
cycles preceding the most recent billing cycle (double billing cycle) as a
result of the loss of any grace period.

Prohibits the imposition of a fee on an outstanding credit card balance, at
the end of a billing period, that is attributable only to interest accrued
during the preceding billing period on an outstanding balance fully repaid
during that preceding billing period.

Requires each periodic statement of account to provide the toll-free
telephone number, Internet address, and website at which the payoff balance
may be requested, including statements of account issued by a small issuer
(of fewer than 50,000 credit cards).

Grants a consumer the right to reject a new credit card before the creditor
notifies a consumer reporting agency of its corresponding account.

Sets forth special rules for accounts with promotional rate balances or
deferred interest balances.

Prescribes payment allocations to be used if two or more different APRs
apply to different portions of an outstanding balance on a credit card
account.

Prohibits a creditor from denying a cardholder a specified payment grace
period if the cardholder takes advantage of a promotional rate balance or
deferred interest rate balance.

Requires creditors to send a periodic credit card statement of account to
the consumer at least 21 calendar days before the due date for the next
payment on the outstanding balance.

Prohibits a creditor from treating as a late payment the receipt of a
periodic payment by mail as of the creditor's next business day if the date
established by the creditor as the payment due date is a day on which mail
is either not delivered or is not accepted by the creditor for processing.
Authorizes a consumer to opt-out of creditor authorization of over-the-limit
transactions if fees are imposed.

Prohibits imposition of any over-the-limit fee if the credit limit was
exceeded because of a credit hold, unless the actual amount of the
transaction for which the hold was placed would have resulted in the
consumer's exceeding such credit limit.

Prescribes the contents of credit card price and availability information
which the Board must collect and make public semiannually.

Prescribes a standard for the initial issuance of subprime or "fee
harvester" cards (accounts requiring first-year fee payments in excess of
25% of the total amount of credit authorized).
Prohibits payment of any fee from the credit made available by the card (other than any late fee, any
over-the-limit fee, or any fee for a payment returned for insufficient
funds).
Prohibits extensions of credit to consumers under age 18, unless they are
emancipated under state law.

Prohibits a creditor from imposing a fee based on the manner in which
payment on the account is made, including a fee for making any such payment
by electronic fund transfer (EFT).

Declares: (1) such prohibition applicable to all payments made after the
enactment of this Act; and (2) any fee imposed after such date in
contravention of this Act shall be promptly credited to the consumer's
account.

Directs the Board to report to certain congressional committees on the
extent to which creditors have reduced credit limits or raised interest
rates applicable to credit card accounts based on specified factors,
including the geographical location of a credit transaction, the identity of
the merchant involved, the consumer's credit transactions, or the identity
of a consumer's mortgage creditor.

Declares this Act effective after the earlier of (1) the end of the 12-month
period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act; or (2) June 30, 2010.

Directs the Board to prescribe final implementing regulations before the
earlier of: (1) the end of the five-month period beginning on the date of
the enactment of this Act; or (2) June 1, 2010.

Prohibits any increase in an APR from taking effect during the period
beginning 90 days after enactment of this Act and ending on the effective
date of all the amendments under this Act, unless the creditor provides
written notice to the consumer at least 45 days before such increase, and
fully and conspicuously describes the change and how it applies to an
existing balance.