NSBA is urging the Senate to approve the Landrieu-Snowe Amendment to the Credit CARD Act of 2009 (H.R. 627/S. 414) in order to guarantee that small-business owners are fully protected by the critical safeguards included in the bill. Small business reliance on credit cards is at an all-time high with 59 percent of respondents to the recent NSBA Small Business Credit Card Survey (NSBA Survey) using credit cards to finance their business—up from 49 percent just four months ago.

The Landrieu-Snowe Amendment was offered Tuesday afternoon by the Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), along with three additional cosponsors, Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

The amendment addresses NSBA's concerns that, although the credit cards of many—if not most—small-business owners are based on the individual owner’s personal credit history, it is conceivable that issuers could legally consider them exempt from the Credit CARD Act’s vital protections. This is because the bill amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) , which for the most part applies only to “consumer” and not business transactions.

While a small-business owner who opens a personal credit-card account and uses it occasionally for business should be covered under TILA, it is unclear whether or not this legislation would protect a small-business owner who used his or her card exclusively or even primarily for business purposes. Eighty-six percent of respondents to the NSBA Survey reported using their consumer or business credit-cards primarily or exclusively for business purposes.

In addition to ensuring that the cards used by small-business owners are covered, the Landrieu-Snowe amendment would increase TILA's exemption of cards with credit limits of $25,000 or more to cards with limits of $50,000 or more. Fifty-two percent of respondents to the NSBA Survey reported having a credit card limit of $25,000 or more, essentially eliminating them from any of the protections of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 without the Landrieu-Snowe Amendment.

An early and outspoken proponent of credit-card reform, NSBA has been leading the charge to include small businesses in any credit-card reform bill.

As mentioned in Landrieu's floor statement: "I have a long list of organizations that have endorsed this concept... National Small Business Association, which brought this issue to my attention..."

NSBA applauds Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on their bipartisan leadership of this much-needed amendment.

Please take a few moments now to urge your Senators' support of the Landrieu-Snowe Amendment.