{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://clarke.house.gov/clarke-van-hollen-introduce-bill-to-protect-consumers-from-online-free-trial-scams/", "CLARKE, VAN HOLLEN INTRODUCE BILL TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM ONLINE FREE TRIAL SCAMS", "2021-12-01", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Yvette D. Clarke", "C001067", "clarke.house.gov", "clarke", "https://clarke.house.gov/category/press-release/", "scraper", "New \u201cConsumer OPT-IN\u201d Act would put the burden on companies \u2013 not consumers \u2013 in renewing contracts\n\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nDecember 1, 2021\n\nMEDIA CONTACT:\n\ne: jeanette.lenoir@mail.house.gov\n\nc: 202.480.5737\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced new bicameral legislation to protect consumers from online free trial scams and deceptive marketing tactics. The lawmakers\u2019 new bill \u2013 the Consumer Online Payment Transparency and Integrity Act, or Consumer OPT-IN Act \u2013 puts the onus on companies, instead of consumers, in renewing or extending contracts.\n\nToo often, companies use free trial offers and unclear terms and conditions to trap consumers into subscriptions. From 2017-2019, the Better Business Bureau received 58,400 complaints related to free trials scams. Additionally, companies often use software and interfaces, called dark patterns that subtly trick users and make it harder for consumers to end these subscriptions and stop unwanted charges. To help prevent these practices, the Consumer OPT-IN Act would require companies to make a number of changes to better protect and inform consumers.\n\n\u201cI am proud to introduce this important legislation with Senator Van Hollen that will protect consumers and create greater levels of transparency and accountability when it comes to subscription-based services,\u201d said Congresswoman Clarke. \u201cAll too frequently, subscription services are taking advantage of people, particularly our most vulnerable populations, and trapping them into paying for goods and services they never intended to sign up for. Enough is enough. Our legislation will put an end to these deceptive practices and protect consumers from being misled into endless monthly payments without their expressly given consent.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom fitness programs to music services, subscription-based companies have taken off. Unfortunately, the headaches that come with trying to cancel or get a refund on these subscriptions are just as prevalent. As far too many Americans know first-hand, the free-trials many companies offer often lead to a cumbersome, or near-impossible, process to opt-out. It\u2019s time to take this burden off the American people. That\u2019s why we\u2019re introducing the Consumer OPT-IN Act to require companies to provide consumers their options clearly and transparently when it comes to a subscription. I look forward to working with Representative Clarke to enact these necessary and common-sense consumer protections,\u201d said Senator Van Hollen.\n\nThe Consumer OPT-In Act will protect consumers from deceptive free trials and marketing tactics by:\n\nRequiring companies to get express informed consent from consumers before converting free trials into automatically renewing contracts and charging consumers;\n\nRequiring companies to notify consumers of the first automatic renewal and obtain express informed consent from consumers before automatically renewing long term contracts;\n\nRequiring that companies offering contracts that automatically renew on a short term basis get express informed consent from consumers annually;\n\nRequiring companies that have knowledge that a consumer isn\u2019t using their products or service for 6 months to get the consumer\u2019s express informed consent to continue billing, and allowing consumers to request a refund for the remaining portion of the contract;\n\nProviding consumers with refunds when violations occur;\n\nGiving the FTC rulemaking authority over negative option contracts, automatic renewals, and dark patterns.\n\nA copy of the legislation can be found HERE.\n\nThe Consumer OPT-In Act is endorsed by: Public Citizen, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), US PIRG, the Consumer Federation of America, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Truth in Advertising, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Center for Economic Justice, Consumer Action and the National Consumers League.\n\n\u201cThe Van Hollen-Clarke bill stops unfair and deceptive auto-renewals and free-to-pay schemes designed to make online subscriptions harder to cancel than to sign up for. That\u2019s not right; it\u2019s wrong,\u201d said Ed Mierzwinski, senior director for federal consumer programs, U.S. PIRG.\n\n\u201cToo many consumers are roped into recurring charges when they try something for free or hit with auto-renewals they didn\u2019t expect. This legislation will ensure that consumers don\u2019t have to deal with surprise changes to their credit cards or bank accounts,\u201d said Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy at Consumer Federation of America.\n\n\u201cThis legislation directly addresses unfair schemes used to automatically subscribe and renew charges on unwitting customers for products, online services, and even memberships that they may never use,\u201d said Christine Hines, legislative director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates. \u201cIt provides commonsense protections that would ensure we are aware of, and actively consent to, automatic renewals and repeat purchases.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable to use dark patterns to hook customers into long subscriptions and steep payments against their will, especially in the case of children and teens,\u201d said David Monahan, Campaign Manager at Fairplay. \u201cWe applaud Senator Van Hollen and Congresswoman Clarke for standing up for consumers with this bill.\u201d\n\n\u201cToo many companies engage in stealth marketing tactics online to get consumers to pay for services they may not want or use. The public should not be subjected to unfair and deceptive practices that can threaten their financial well-being. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Clarke\u2019s bill would create a safer consumer marketplace online, and give individuals powerful new ways to protect themselves,\u201d said Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy.\n\n\u201cSen. Van Hollen and Rep. Clarke\u2019s bill provides critical consumer protection in a digital era to address the use of dark patterns, like negative options, by sellers of goods and services to trick consumers into actions they don\u2019t want to take. The bill promotes more competitive markets by empowering consumers to take the action they want,\u201d said Birny Birnham of the Center for Economic Justice.\n\n\u201cConsumers should not be duped into automatic obligations for services that they did not agree to, only to enrich companies that mislead them into unwanted binding agreements,\u201d said Linda Sherry, Consumer Action\u2019s Director of National Priorities. \u201cConsumers need Senator Van Hollen and Congresswoman Clarke\u2019s solution that would require companies to get consumers\u2019 express consent before committing them to contracts.\u201d\n\n\u201cNegative options trick people into renewing automatic billing without their knowledge, and often for products or services that they do not even want or use. Sen. Van Hollen and Rep. Clarke\u2019s bill will help restore transparency and fairness to online shopping,\u201d said Lauren Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center.\n\n\u201cNCL endorses Senator Van Hollen and Congresswoman Clarke\u2019s bill to require free-to-pay conversions or negative option features requiring express affirmative consent before automatically renewing contracts or converting free-to-pay contracts to automatically renewing contracts. Consumers need these protections because contracts for free goods or services that automatically convert to monthly payments carry often hefty charges and terms \u2013 giving fair warning to consumers of these contracts and the right to cancel is essential. Thanks to Senator Van Hollen for his leadership,\u201d said John Breyault of the National Consumers League.\n\n###\n\nYvette D. Clarke has been in Congress since 2007. She represents New York\u2019s Ninth Congressional District, which includes Central and South Brooklyn. Clarke is Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Taskforce on Immigration, a Senior Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Chair of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://clarke.house.gov/clarke-van-hollen-introduce-bill-to-protect-consumers-from-online-free-trial-scams/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.257393207401037, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}