§ 525 — Prohibited practices

§ 525. Prohibited practices. 1. It shall be unlawful for a provider of\ntravel services to communicate with a credit card issuer for the purpose\nof reserving or setting aside any specified amount of credit in a\nconsumer's credit card account to ensure payment for services to be\nrendered unless prior to such communication the provider of travel\nservices informs the consumer of the amount of credit which will be\nrequested to be reserved or set aside and obtains the consumer's consent\nto the reservation or set aside of such amount.\n 2. It shall be unlawful for a provider of travel services to\ncommunicate with a credit card issuer for the purpose of reserving or\nsetting aside an amount of credit in a consumer's credit card account in\nexcess of the actual, agreed upon cost of the services contracted for by\nthe consumer and provider of travel services unless, prior to such\ncommunication, the provider of travel services informs the consumer in\nwriting of the amount of credit which will be requested to be reserved\nor set aside and obtains the consumer's written consent to the\nreservation or set aside of such amount.\n 3. It shall be unlawful for any provider of travel services, after it\nhas determined the final charges for the travel services furnished to a\nconsumer, to fail to promptly communicate with a credit card issuer to\nrequest the release of any amount of credit previously reserved or set\naside by it in the consumer's credit card account which is in excess by\nmore than twenty-five dollars of the charges actually billed.\n 4. It shall be unlawful for any provider of travel services to impose,\nas a result of the use of a credit card, a surcharge on a travel agent\nacting as an agent of such provider of travel services where, on behalf\nof a holder of a credit card, as defined in section five hundred eleven\nof this chapter, such travel agent facilitates the holder's use of a\ncredit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means.\n