Fighting Predatory Lending in the Credit Card Industry
Congressman Tierney is committed to protecting consumers against the predatory lending practices of credit card companies.

In September of 2008, Congressman Tierney introduced two bills which seek to curtail abusive, but, unfortunately, commonplace actions of credit card companies. Specifically, the first bill would create a national consumer usury rate to limit abusive consumer interest rates and further cap hidden fees, and the second would create a 5-star rating system for credit cards, thereby encouraging credit card companies to engage in sustainable and responsible lending practices, functioning much like the five-star crash test rating for automobiles.

Congressman Tierney is also an original cosponsor of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, H.R. 5244, introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). This legislation seeks to curb many of this industry's abusive practices, including requiring advance notice of credit card account rate increase, and prohibiting a creditor from imposing interest on credit repaid within the interest-free repayment time period (thus prohibiting double cycle billing). H.R. 5244 passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September.