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Senate Bill Would Curb Abusive Credit Card Practices

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 16, 2007

Plastic Prison • Credit Tips And Tricks • Get Control of What You Owe • No Easy Way Out Of Credit Card Debt • Penalty Fees, Interest Rate Hikes, and Misleading Contracts Await Credit Card Shoppers • "Convenience Checks" Carry a Heavy Price Tag • New Forms of Credit Scoring • Understanding Credit • Credit Bureaus: Who You're Dealing With • Reading Your Credit Report • Credit Scoring: The Fickleness of FICO • Credit Knowledge: A Long, Hard, Struggle --- News • Credit Card Fee Bill Passes House Committee • Merchants, Unions Press Congress on Credit Card Abuses • Patients 'Overdose' on Medical Debt • House to Hold Hearings on Credit Card Interchange Fees • Confronting a 'Culture Of Debt' • Feds Back Tighter Credit, Debit Card Rules • Director Takes Aim at Banks in New Film, 'Overdrawn!' • Floating Due Date Snags Chase, Citibank Customers • Congress Takes On Credit Card Interchange Fees • Consumers Lobby Congress to End Credit Card Abuses • Congress Takes On Credit Card Abuses • Credit Counselors Go Risque With their Message • Credit Card Debt Climbs Worldwide • As Credit Delinquency Rises, So Does Credit Relief Scrutiny • Congress Calls Out Credit Card Companies • College Students Warned Against Credit Card Trap • High-Fee, Low-Credit Charge Cards Prey Upon the Poor • Senate Bill Would Curb Abusive Credit Card Practices • Fed Proposes Tighter Controls On Credit Card Rates • Senate Panel Slams Abusive Credit Card Practices • Congress Targets Credit Card Companies For Reform • Report Finds High Debit Card Overdraft Fees • Bank, ATM Fees Continue To Rise • Credit Card Fees Rise, Disclosure Statements Inadequate • Free Credit Reports Mark First Anniversary • Credit Card Debt Sinking Many Older Consumers • Experian Launches New Credit Score; Critics Unimpressed • Credit Cards Target Students • Credit Card Companies Fear "Perfect Storm" • Credit Bureaus Introduce New Scoring System • More Banks Using Universal Default to Hike Interest Rates

Two Democratic Senators have introduced legislation that they say would rein in the most abusive practices of the credit card industry by limiting interest rate hikes and curbing punitive fees that can prevent consumers from ever paying off their debt.

The "Stop Unfair Practices In Credit Cards Act" was introduced on May 15 by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

“Credit card issuers too often sock consumers with sky-high interest rates and excessive fees, making it harder and harder for families to climb out of debt,” Levin said. “The goal of this legislation is to put an end to unfair and abusive credit card practices that outrage so many American families."

"We have to fight for those who have not hired dozens of lobbyists to make sure that American consumers are not getting ripped off and are fully informed of how these companies are manipulating their financial security," McCaskill said.

The act's provisions include:

• Prohibiting interest charges on any portion of a credit card debt which the card holder paid on time during a grace period.

• Prohibiting added "trailing interest" charges on credit card debt which the card holder paid on time and in full.

• Preventing the charging of interest on credit card transaction fees, such as late fees and over-the-limit fees.

• Restricting the charging of repeated overlimit fees for a single instance of exceeding a credit card limit.

The bill also requires that cardholder payments be automatically directed to the credit line with the highest balance, and prevents fees from being levied if a payment was late due to a card issuer's action.

The Consumer Federation of America's Travis Plunkett called the act “important legislation will stop credit card companies from using a variety of traps and tricks that harm consumers and illegitimately pump up profits.”

“Owning a credit card company is often a license to steal," said Ed Mierzwinski of U.S. PIRG, "But Senator Levin’s legislation makes him the new sheriff in town. His bill bans some of the most unfair credit card company practices that strip money out of consumer pocketbooks and wallets.”

Levin chairs the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, which McCaskill serves on, and held hearings earlier in the year blasting banks and credit card issuers for inscrutable agreements, cryptic practices, and sky-high interest rates.

Representatives from Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase were thoroughly grilled on their business practices during the hearing, with many promising to end practices such as "universal default" in order to avoid regulatory action.

Levin had earlier requested a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on credit card fees and disclosure statements. The GAO report found that penalty fees for credit cards had nearly doubled from $13 in 1995 to $34 in 2005, and that credit card disclosures were written at a level much higher than the average American could understand, with important information often buried deep in agreements that readers would miss.

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