credit cards

Credit card companies might be unpopular, and reform legislation might be inevitable. But, as Democratic leaders have learned this month, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. Or quick.
Indeed, Senate leaders last night announced that the upper chamber, which initially hoped to pass Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) credit card proposal last week, won’t be voting on [...]

To no one’s surprise, the Senate on Wednesday killed a proposal to cap credit card rates at 15 percent. The count was 33 to 60 on a procedural vote to allow the bill to proceed.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who sponsored the amendment, said the proposal would “end usury in the United States of America.”
“This amendment [...]

Here’s a good game for a rainy Sunday.
Several credit card companies have launched a new Website designed to help struggling card users manage their debts amid the economic downturn. The site includes tips to avoid penalties and links to access counseling services. But the fan favorite has to be an interactive tool allowing consumers to [...]

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. Dodd wasn’t so busy collecting hundreds [...]

Senate banking leaders have wrangled a bipartisan deal over controversial legislation reining in the credit card industry, setting the stage this week for likely passage.

The banking industry scored a major victory last week when a watered-down foreclosure bill passed the Senate. Next up is a bill to protect credit card users.

David Lazarus at The Los Angeles Times asks a question I’ve been wondering about myself: What are some credit card companies thinking?
Lazarus points specifically to American Express, which seems to be going overboard in its eagerness to pare customers who might pose default risks. The problem is that some customers are anything but risky, yet [...]

It’s all credit cards, all day long. And Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee went on MSNBC, this afternoon to reiterate his earlier call for the Federal Reserve to prevent credit card companies from hiking rates on existing balances — something Congress is now largely conceding it can’t do with [...]

No surprise that President Obama’s top economic adviser Larry Summers was among those gathered at today’s White House meeting with credit card executives. But is it too much to expect that he would stay awake through the discussion?
Short answer: yes.
From the pool report:

We just put up a piece about how the Democrats’ legislative efforts to make credit cards more consumer friendly have been delayed, likely until July 2010, when new consumer protections crafted by the Federal Reserve will be installed anyway. It was probably inevitable that the banks would try to cash in on current practices as [...]