House OKs bill protecting credit card holders

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to regulate the credit card industry to ensure fair and sound consumer practices and encourage competition and transparency to protect credit card holders. Unanimously approved on a vote of 178 with no negative votes was House Bill 5417 or the proposed Philippine Credit Card Industry Regulation Law that was listed in the legislative priorities of the House leadership.

Approved on Monday, 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.
According to Collantes, 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.

Authors of the measure include Reps. Agapito Guanlao (Butil party-list); Rodel Batocabe (Ako Bicol party-list); Raymond Democrito Mendoza (TUCP party-list); Juliet Cortuna (A-Teacher party-list); and Mark Enverga (NPC, Quezon).

Guanlao said the bill lifts the “prohibitive” conditions and penalties imposed by banks and credit card companies on cardholders, especially for those who fail to settle their dues.

Authors said credit card users have increased tremendously since the 1990s, citing data from Metro Manila alone that as of December 2010, at least 6.7 million credit cards have been issued to Filipino consumers.
The bill provides that to ensure the vibrancy and efficiency of the credit card industry, the State shall institute appropriate mechanism to protect and educate credit card holders. (Ben R. Rosario) Tempo