The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged banking reform

Reid Trying to Expedite Bill to Expedite Credit Card Reforms

By | 11.06.09 | 1:45 pm

Senate leaders are trying to “hotline” a bill that would expedite previously passed credit card reforms to prevent companies from hiking rates and fees before the law takes hold, according to sources on Capitol Hill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked members of the Banking Committee More…

Dodd Bill Would Freeze Credit Card Rates

By | 10.26.09 | 1:25 pm

Attempting to fix a problem that his panel helped create, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will introduce legislation today to prevent credit card companies from hiking rates on existing balances. Although Congress passed sweeping credit card reforms earlier in the year — including a ban on More…

New House Bill Tackles Overdraft Fees

By | 10.22.09 | 4:27 pm

On Monday, it was Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) unveiling legislation to rein in overdraft fees. Today it’s Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) doing the same.

Both bills would require banks to get customer consent before enrolling them in the overdraft protection program; both would cap More…

Hearing on Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Merger Postponed

By | 10.21.09 | 12:33 pm

A House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the controversial merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch has been postponed “due to additional documents recently received,” the panel announced today.

The hearing, initially to be held Thursday, has not been rescheduled.

Overdraft Fees on the Rise

By | 10.06.09 | 11:04 am

By 35 percent in just two years, according to a report released today by the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group. Those overdraft fees — applied when consumers exceed account balances when making debit card purchases — generated $23.7 billion in 2008, up from More…

Hearing Announced to Expedite Credit Card Reforms

By | 10.02.09 | 2:37 pm

In April, we ran a piece about how some Democrats had bowed to the wishes of the banking industry and delayed their credit card reforms until next year, even as consumers have struggled to keep up amid the recession. Inevitably, the banks have used the delay More…

Dems Will Continue Push to Rein In Overdraft Fees

By | 09.23.09 | 2:17 pm

The congressional Democrats leading the effort to protect consumers from overdraft fees said today that, despite Tuesday’s news that Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase will adopt some of those protections voluntary, there remains the need to make the safeguards permanent through legislation.

“These are More…

Dodd to Introduce Bill Tackling Overdraft Fees

By | 09.18.09 | 9:49 am

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will soon unveil legislation to rein in the overdraft fees that banks charge consumers who exceed their balances with debit card purchases, American Banker reported Thursday (subscription required).

The bill is sure to provoke an outcry from the banking More…

GOP Challenger Blasts Dodd on Credit Card Reform

By | 05.12.09 | 1:24 pm

As the Senate today continues debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) credit card reform proposal, Dodd’s 2010 GOP opponent, former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons, just issued a statement asking the Banking Committee chairman a biting question: What took you so long?

Credit card reform is long overdue and if Sen.

More…