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The House of Representatives last night passed a bill seeking to protect educate credit card holders from reported excesses of card issuers and banks.
Unanimously approved on a vote of 178 with no negative votes, House Bill 5417 and HB 5417—or the proposed Philippine Credit Card Industry Regulation Law—is listed in the legislative priorities of the House leadership.
The measure consolidates at least eight different measures providing for fair competition and fairness in the credit card industry.
Endorsed for plenary approval by the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, HB 5417 also makes consumer credit readily available to all Filipinos “under conditions of fair and sound consumer practices.”
Batangas Rep. Nelson Collantes, committee chairman, said the bill also helps to guarantee that appropriate mechanisms are in place to protect and educate credit card holders.
Under the bill the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is mandated to supervise all credit card issuers and impose rules of conduct and standards of operation while imposing penalties for violation.
HB 5417 also provides for an efficient system for managing risk arising from credit card operations.
Collantes said the bill requires the credit card issuer to be transparent in their computation of all charges and fees while bars them from imposing over-the-limit fees without the consent of the cardholder.
The bill also provides confidentiality of cardholder information and establishes a period within which complaints on billing may be made and a period upon which the card issuer must reply.
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