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Obama Presses Case For Credit Card Reform

President wants bill on his desk by Memorial Day

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 14, 2009

• 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 • Retailers Applaud GAO Report On Interchange Fees • Schumer Moves to Clean Up Credit Reporting Ads • Report: Deceptive Credit Card Practices Remain Widespread • Dodd Bill Would Freeze Credit Card Rates • Annual Credit Card Fee Makes a Comeback • Credit Card Holders Angrily Abandon Their Cards • Fed Proposes New Credit Card Rules • Lawmakers Propose Faster Adoption Of New Credit Card Rules • Acid Test: Prepaid Debit Card vs. Big Bank • J.D. Power: Customer Satisfaction With Credit Cards Falls • How To Survive The New Credit Card Rules • New Credit Card Law Not A Cure-All • Consumer Credit Continues To Shrink • Consumers Using Credit Cards To Stay Afloat, Survey Finds • Credit Cards Giving Consumers Heartburn • Obama Signs Credit Card Bill • Olive Garden Settles Credit Card Data Exposure Suit • Video — Credit Card Law May Produce Unintended Consequences --- • More about credit cards

President Obama, in essence, preached to the choir Thursday as he told a town hall packed with consumers that the credit card industry is in bad need of an overhaul. The President has told Congress he wants to see credit card legislation on his desk by Memorial Day.

At a town hall meeting in New Mexico the President said he wants a new law that would restrict lenders' ability to hike interest rates or tack on late fees. He also said he wants to reduce the fine print and excessive legalese in credit card agreements. These issues are the subject of complaints ConsumerAffairs.com has been receiving for years.

Delisa, of Bellingham, Washington, said she had been a Washington Mutual cardholder since 2006, with an interest rate of 14 percent.

"I kept my account in excellent standing, constantly paying off my account," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "When Chase bought out Washington Mutual, I received a letter stating my interest rate would go up to 31.9 percent. This is ridiculous and should not be legal."

It probably wouldn't be, under the "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights," currently making its way through Congress.

"We have been complicit in these problems," Obama told the town hall. "But these practices, they have only grown worse in this recession, when hardworking Americans could afford them least."

Credit car debt has increased by 25 percent over the past decade, reaching $963 billion in January, according to Federal Reserve. The banking industry opposes the Obama-backed bill, saying it would result in less credit for consumers.

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