Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray told lawmakers during a House Financial Services committee hearing this week that the bureau will likely change the CARD Act to allow qualified non-working spouses to establish credit cards in their own name.
The CFPB is expecting to introduce the rule before the post-election lame duck congressional session, Cordray told the panel Thursday.
Holly McCall, a stay-at-home mom from Virginia made famous after she launched a grass-roots petition campaign to reverse the “Mad Men-era” rule, said she was inspired by the announcement.
"Stay-at-home moms shouldn’t have to ask their husbands for permission to get a credit card, and I’m glad to hear Director Cordray agrees,” McCall said. “When I first faced this problem last October, I had no idea my experience could lead to real change like what the CFPB is now proposing. It’s so heartening to see a big government agency like that respond directly to the voices of consumers across the country.”
McCall delivered more than 45,000 petition signatures to Cordray May 12 when she and representatives of advocacy group MomsRising met with the bureau head.
Gail Hillebrand, CFPB’s associate director of consumer education and engagement, testified before the House in June that the bureau would consider reversing the ability to pay provision, presuming it was consistent with the CARD Act.
