Obama Makes Push For Credit Card Legislation (VIDEO)

AP: WASHINGTON — Putting himself on the side of fuming consumers, President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to send him legislation by Memorial Day that would put a tighter rein on the credit card industry.

"Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address released Saturday. "But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all-too common."

WATCH WEEKLY ADDRESS:

Obama has prominently lobbied for a bill calling for a credit card crackdown. It already has cleared the House and awaits action in the Senate.

"I'm calling on Congress ... to pass a credit card reform bill that protects American consumers so that I can sign it into law by Memorial Day," Obama said. "There is no time for delay. We need a durable and successful flow of credit in our economy, but we can't tolerate profits that depend upon misleading working families. Those days are over."

But there's no certainty Congress will deliver by the end of the month.

The banking community is fighting back. Credit-card executives maintain that new restrictions could backfire on consumers, making it harder for banks to offer credit or put credit out of reach for many borrowers. They also contend that the sweeping rules already ordered by the Federal Reserve, beginning next year, address many of the consumer-protection concerns expressed by the president and members of Congress.

The bill's boosters are tapping into public anger over corporate excesses and the conduct of companies receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money.

The House measure, called the Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights, passed on a bipartisan vote of 357-70 following lobbying by the Obama administration. It would prohibit so-called double-cycle billing and retroactive rate hikes and would prevent companies from giving credit cards to anyone under 18.

If they become law, the new House provisions won't take effect for a year, except for a requirement that customers get 45 days' notice before their interest rates are increased. That would take effect in 90 days.

Obama spoke to the public's frustration with credit cards.

"You shouldn't have to fear that any new credit card is going to come with strings attached, nor should you need a magnifying glass and a reference book to read a credit card application," Obama said. "And the abuses in our credit card industry have only multiplied in the midst of this recession, when Americans can least afford to bear an extra burden."

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On the Net: http://www.whitehouse.govwatch:

Comments

[econ1]

If only the government could be held to the same standard of clarity and truth.

[research]

bow to your corporate masters.

You prefer Plutocracy to Democracy?

Or is Anarchy your thing?

[Artemis34]

Yet, many of these institutions gave ENRON money when they couldn't even produce a balance sheet or a cash-flow statement!

[Kahoneez]

One part of this reform smells , if slowing the rate of interest means instead of being able to raise the rate in a couple of weeks , they now only have to wait a couple of months , this is basically meaningless . The question is and the infotainers at CNN never asked , How long do credit card companies have to wait , to increase rates . And limiting rate increases to new balances is a trick also , if you start ouit w/ 100 dollar balance before , everything after will be increased , meaing the majority of your balance will still suffer from rate increases . Pay off your balance , new balances will still get hit with credit card interest rate increases .
Obama won't stop them serving up a knuckle Sandwich , they'll just have to wait a couple of months ,to punch you in the face , thanks alot .

[themodernleader]

If there is no meaningful legislation passed, it will be clear to even the most fanatical Obama apologists, that this Administration is going nowhere regarding the public interests. Even if the President is sincere, and I don't doubt that he is, the Congress seems to be so corruptly entangled with the financial interests that deadlock or a whitewash seems the likely outcome. Then the President will have to publicly lobby and cajole or sit down and shut up for the rest of his Administration.

[hypnotoad72]

If Congress isn't sincere, then President Obama can do what Bush never did: Veto.

[JePense]

The following issues should be included in the proposed law:

1. Interest should not apply to miscellaneous fees and penalties. (e.g., late fee of $35.00 to $50 is added to balance and then interest is charged on the fee, repeatedly). Interest should only be applied to unpaid purchases and cash advances in accord with the credit agreement. The consumer makes no agreement to "borrow" fees.

2. Consumer should be able to direct the bank to apply a split payment to retire purchases and cash advance debt as long as the payment exceeds the "minimum monthly payment." For example, 3 years after taking a $2K cash advance at 15.0% interest, consumer still owes $1600 on the cash advance, despite faithful monthly payments in excess of the minimum. Eventually, rate escalates to 29.9% --a 100% increase.

3. Cash advance interest should be fixed at the rate in place at the time of the "loan" and should not change until the loan period is complete. Typically higher than the purchases interest rate, it remains on the account for 5 times as long.

4. It should be illegal for the bank to add open new credit card accounts that a consumer has not applied for. Likewise, it should be illegal for the bank to cancel an inactive card without providing the consumer some recourse. Both actions affect consumer's credit score (re: percent of total available credit used).

...please add any others we have missed...

[caesar30]

We forgave all the debt that we straddled on the third world in the 70s and 80s. The government needs to give interest free loans to the middle class to pay all credit card debt. Everyone's happy.

[Harmony1812]

We should have a class action lawsuit against the credit card companies making them repay all the rate hikes they decided to charge.

[hypnotoad72]

Too much common sense to that...

Never mind large corporations taxpayer money is bailing out and the number of times Donald Trump can declare the B-word when otherwise telling everyone "You're fired!"

[DWX]

Obama, the Corporate America worst nightmare

[vippy]

Statements like this are just asinine.

[Rule Of Law]

Now that Cheney has publicly implicated Bush in the use of torture, will Mr. Obama be pushing for prosecution, or still just looking forward?

[vippy]

Can't look backwards or it would affect his own party members. They were all Bush Enablers.

[Artemis34]

If we look backward, we would see that Dems got secret briefing which they kept secret, which is their duty to do, unlike Cheney and Libby.

Also, if Dems did not control the congress or the White House, and with an increasingly conservative supreme court, just what is the effective strategy do you think they should have used to stop the Bush Cheney steam roller?

Anyway, if they'd passed laws pertaining to these issues, Bush would have put "signing statements" on them to invalidate them in regulatory implementation.

[FZliveson]

Read the fine print. It is always a good thing to get a little antsy when anyone says;
this can't wait..."There is no time for delay..." Sounds more like BOHICA to me.

[Okieborn]

This should read !!
President Obama pushes for more Bushism !!!

[TiredandPragmatic]

Why?! Did you even read the article?

[BayouBorn]

Wow, they finally are going to pass something relevant to the problems of the nation as a whole. If you want to see what I have to say about this topic, check out my blog, The Barber Shop Report http://barbarshopreport.blogspot.com/

[Acidic]

No better time than now, we must march on DC or nothing will get done, if their were 20 mill on DC streets, change would probably happen pretty quickly.

PS- No, I'm not a teabagger.

[Harmony1812]

Gotta hit then where it hurts. Their big pockets.

[rabiddog6708]

I clipped up my credit cards years ago. They charge you outrageous interest. You usually end up paying ten times the actual cost of an item, especially if you make minimum monthly payments.

[dan110011]

Credit card companies have a new way to get late fees for themselves and banks. Most people wait until the last day to mail in a credit card payment. Credit card companies know this. Credit card companies change the geographic location of the payment center. A new address and a longer time in the mail makes the credit card payment get to the new address late and you have to pay a late fee. Move the credit card payment center's location closer to the customer and the payment will get there too soon and the check will bounce. The customer thought he had more time for the payment to get there. The customer will now have to pay a late fee and a bad check fee.

Credit card payments should be "mail dated".
This is how all government payments get paid.
Stop Credit Card Fee Tricks.

[wdw505]

just pay the card off each month.........and don't worry about it

[rabiddog6708]

Putz.

[techjockey]

This dosen't differentiate between paying it entirely or simply making a payment. If they play games with billing & late fees you get nabbed regardless, that's the point!

[doublewhammy]

This is not an extra burden...it is the burden. In the credit card mess, it has affected everyones credit score, so try and buy a house or car. This goes so much deeper than the interest rate. How many who have paid on time for years, perfect credit, only to get rates jacked or cards suspended for NO reason or for whatever reason the company makes up, let me see, I have heard, we looked at your spending over the last few years, we not received your payment, you have swiped at the wrong store, we are just protecting you by reducing your limit(bing 50 points on the credit score) Is there a profiling portion in this bill to protect certain sexes, the industry that you are in, or your medical history? Why if they can do when ever at anytime will it take a year for this bill to go into effect? This economy cannot wait another year. Everything we buy is based on a credit score, health insurance, car insurance, cars, homes. The credit card whores have shutdown the health of our economy and will be able to do so for now another year.

[PhilipTaylor]

July 21, 2008: Congress May Make It Harder For Credit Card Companies To Target College Students

May 10, 2009: Almost 10 Months later and ZERO PROGRESS!

Wall Street+Banks+Credit Card Companies OWN Congress+Executive Branch!

Time for Congress to submit their RESIGNATIONS!

[hortonhearsawho2]

maxed out, huh...