California Civil Code 1747.70 – (a) No card issuer shall knowingly give any untrue credit …
(a) No card issuer shall knowingly give any untrue credit information to any other person concerning a cardholder.
(b) No card issuer, after receiving an inquiry from a cardholder regarding a billing error and prior to satisfying the requirements of Section 1747.50, shall communicate unfavorable credit information concerning the cardholder to any person solely because of the cardholder’s failure to pay the amount by which the outstanding balance of the cardholder’s account is greater than the correct balance.
Terms Used In California Civil Code 1747.70
- billing error: means an error by omission or commission in (1) posting any debit or credit, or (2) in computation or similar error of an accounting nature contained in a statement given to the cardholder by the card issuer. See California Civil Code 1747.02
- Card issuer: means any person who issues a credit card or the agent of that person for that purpose with respect to the credit card. See California Civil Code 1747.02
- Cardholder: means a natural person to whom a credit card is issued for consumer credit purposes, or a natural person who has agreed with the card issuer to pay consumer credit obligations arising from the issuance of a credit card to another natural person. See California Civil Code 1747.02
- Credit card: means any card, plate, coupon book, or other single credit device existing for the purpose of being used from time to time upon presentation to obtain money, property, labor, or services on credit. See California Civil Code 1747.02
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- inquiry: is a writing that is posted by mail to the address of the card issuer to which payments are normally tendered, unless another address is specifically indicated on the statement for that purpose, then to that other address, and that is received by the card issuer no later than 60 days after the card issuer transmitted the first periodic statement that reflects the alleged billing error, and that does all of the following:
California Civil Code 1747.02
(c) No card issuer shall cancel or refuse to renew a credit card for the reason that the cardholder has obtained relief under Section 1747.50.
(d) Any cardholder who is injured by a willful violation of this section may bring an action for the recovery of damages. Judgment may be entered for three times the amount at which actual damages are assessed. The cardholder shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the action.
(Added by Stats. 1971, Ch. 1019.)