I
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8922
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 2, 2024
Mr. Higgins of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To require the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to issue a final rule requiring any card issuer that issues a pre-approved credit card to a senior citizen to provide fraud alerts to certain individuals, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Janie Wynn Protecting Elders from Financial Exploitation Act
.
Prevention of senior citizen financial exploitation
In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shall issue a final rule requiring—
any card issuer that issues a pre-approved credit card to a senior citizen to provide fraud alerts for such credit card upon activation to—
the cardholder; and
except as provided in subsection (b), an individual selected by the cardholder who is at least 25 years old and—
is a relative or spouse of the cardholder; or
has provided a description to the card issuer of the nature of their relationship with the cardholder; and
each depository institution and credit union to provide training to employees who perform fraud detection services on how to identify account activity that is indicative of financial exploitation of a senior citizen and notify any senior citizen that possesses an account with the depository institution or credit union within 24 hours of any such account activity occurring in such account, including—
the irregular use of—
an automated teller machine;
a credit card;
an online banking service; or
a wire transfer;
an irregular cash withdrawal;
an irregular credit card charge;
the absence of a regularly occurring deposit;
account activity in a previously inactive account;
the addition of an authorized user to an account;
a change of address associated with an account;
an inability to cover a charged payment due to insufficient funds in an account;
a request for a credit limit increase;
a charged payment for the purchase of gift cards or prepaid debit cards worth over $100 in total;
an electronic payment from an account through the Automated Clearing House network to a recipient with no history of prior payment from such account; and
a gap in the check number of checks cashed from an account.
Exception
The Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall include in the rule required under subsection (a) a waiver of the requirements of paragraph (1)(B) of such subsection if—
the cardholder signs a waiver acknowledging an increased risk of financial exploitation; and
the card issuer retains a copy of such waiver until at least 5 years after the date that the pre-approved credit card is deactivated.
Definitions
In this Act:
Cardholder; card issuer
The terms cardholder and card issuer have the meanings given such terms, respectively, in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1602).
Credit union
The term credit union means a Federal credit union, a State credit union, or a State-chartered credit union (as such terms are defined, respectively, in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752)).
Depository institution
The term depository institution has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813).
Exploitation; senior citizen
The terms exploitation and senior citizen have the meanings given such terms, respectively, in section 303 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 3423).
Fraud alert
The term fraud alert means a notice provided by a card issuer to an individual of suspected fraudulent activity connected to a credit card associated with such individual and managed by such card issuer that—
is communicated by means of a phone call, email, or text message;
describes the suspected fraudulent activity in sufficient detail to alert the individual of such activity, including account activity that is indicative of financial exploitation of a senior citizen; and
includes information on how to communicate with the card issuer regarding the suspected fraudulent activity at any time of the day and on any day of the week.
Pre-approved credit card
The term pre-approved credit card means a credit card issued as a result of the acceptance of an offer extended to an individual to apply for such credit card based on a determination by the card issuer that such individual likely satisfied the qualifications for obtaining such credit card, including an offer extended to an individual to apply for such credit card that grants elevated or priority consideration for approval to the individual.