House passed credit card reform in September- Sen Dodd does nothing

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

By a vote of 312 to 112, the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to pass HR 5244, the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights. The bill would curb a number of predatory credit card lending practices that can unfairly trap consumers in debt. In light of the overwhelming vote in the House, Consumers Union called on the Senate to include the reforms as part of any Wall Street bailout package.

“Millions of Americans are drowning in debt because of unfair and deceptive credit card lending practices,” said Pamela Banks of Consumers Union. “This bill restores some basic fairness to the market and will help ensure that consumers will be able to better manage their finances in these tough economic times. As Congress shapes a bailout of the financial sector, it should include these credit card protections so consumers won’t continue to be gouged by these unfair lending practices.”

HR 5244, sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney, requires credit card companies to stop:

Applying unfair interest rate hikes retroactively to balances incurred under the old rate;

Assessing hidden and unjustified interest charges on balances already paid off;

Piling on the debt that consumers owe by requiring them to pay off balances with lower interest rates before those with higher rates;

Charging late fees even though consumers mail their payments seven days in advance of the due date; and
Charging excessive upfront fees to subprime cards targeted at consumers with blemished credit histories.

http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/006182.html


Dodd and fellow Democrat Sen. Carl Levin co-sponsored credit card legislation in July: the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2008 or Credit CARD Act of 2008. Dodd said laws rather than regulatory rules are needed to address credit card industry problems. "While some may say this is somewhat duplicative, a regulation or rule can be changed rather quickly -- a law cannot."

Levin issued a statement supporting Dodd's efforts to make credit card reform an issue in November: "The American people are shelling out hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to make up for Wall Street excesses; Wall Street banks should not be allowed to squeeze more dollars from consumers through unfair credit card practices that mire families in debt."

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-reform-senate-banking-1282.php


OK, Dodd's had his bill since July and the House had their bill since September. He's in charge
of the committee and has done nothing to either move his bill out nor do a compromise with the house Bill. Can anyone explain this?

BTW. I got rid of my credit cards last year but I have friends that are hurting from the
outrageous fees the credit card companies have added on in the past month.
Where the hell is the Senate on this?.......... I know Dodd got $4 million from the credit companies.

that they will disappear?

The thing is Sen. Dodd was talking about his 'reform' of the credit card companies
back in 2007 when he was running for Prez. Even in Jan 2008 he said he had a bill
almost ready.


Nov 15, 2007 06:06 AM EST Calling Senator Dodd
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6899.html

Senator sees credit card action this year Levin and Dodd
Fri Feb 8, 2008 2:22pm EST

http://www.reuters.com/article/Regulation08/idUSN0841689820080208

The rules are pretty common sense. Much more would have been done if Congress acted.

Back in May, the American Bankers Assoc said the following:
"The Federal Reserve’s proposal is an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into marketplace pricing and product offerings. We are deeply concerned that these rules will result in less competition, higher consumer prices, fewer consumer choices and reduced consumer access to credit cards. In short, everyday consumers will bear the real cost of these proposals."

Now that the economy has worsened and the the Fed 'rule making period' is over where the ABA got their comments resolved, the ABA said last week:

"The strong new regulations announced today by the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration are unprecedented in their scope and signal the beginning of a new market structure for credit cards.

...

An overhaul of the market for credit cards of this magnitude will require time for full implementation, and we are committed to working with the Fed and other regulators to make these regulations work for consumers and small businesses."