The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009
or Credit CARD Act of 2009 is a federal statute passed by the United
States Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009. It
is comprehensive credit card reform legislation that aims "...to
establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of
credit under an open end consumer credit plan, and for other purposes."
The bill was passed with bipartisan support by both the House of
Representatives and the Senate.
The Credit Cardholders' Bill of
Rights was introduced in the 110th Congress as H.R. 5244 in the House of
Representatives by Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New
York and the chair of the House Financial Services Committee's
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. The bill had
passed 312 to 112 but was never given a vote in the Senate.