Posts Tagged ‘credit card reform’
Credit Card Reform Just a Beginning
The long-awaited protections for credit card holders took effect last week, 9 long months after reform legislation passed which gave banks more than enough to time to enact higher rates and collect millions in fees on unsuspecting consumers. The negative effect this had on their public image didn’t bother them at all. If that’s reform, who can afford it?
So now that we’re here, it’s not a bad idea to learn about some of the changes. There seem to be some good restraints and attempts to standardize various processes in billing. Anyone can Google “credit card reform legislation” and see the details. However, let’s spend time imagining what real far-reaching credit card reform would like.
A few major changes come to mind that one would think would have been tops on the list but was never discussed - limiting how high credit card companies can charge in interest! As we all know, they’ve been free to charge usurious rates as high as 34%. Some have jumped from 12% to 24% for no reason. Even if states have a limit of 16%, for example, if the company is headquartered in South Dakota, they can legally charge 30% or whatever higher rate they want. How could a serious reform bill miss this?
How about requiring the credit card companies to explain what value they provide for the privilege of charging us from our actual labor, plus interest and fees. Why are they allowed to turn around and charge fees to merchants for an additional round of gouging? Why wasn’t this addressed? Do they provide any actual service we should be paying for? Can anyone think of other useful ways that the public could be spending billions of dollars that have been going to enrich the banks through their very elaborate, lobbyist-powered corporate welfare program?
This is the reform we get until enough Americans learn the true nature of debt and banking. Knowledge is power, and as this knowledge spreads through the masses, good things can happen. This legislation is a meager beginning. With the rising tide of anger towards the banking system and FED, the next logical step is to create awareness throughout the masses as well as elected officials that there’s much further to go before true financial reform becomes reality.
So This is Credit Card Reform?
The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (for short, the Credit Card Act) was passed on May 22, 2009. Its purpose is to finally reign in the unfettered usurious practices of credit card issuers who have made hundreds of billions of dollars in interest and fees from the public, regardless of the fact that credit is based on book entries rather than actual bank assets according to many official industry sources. After many congressional hearings took place over past years addressing abuses by credit card companies and the absence of consumer protections, finally an initial step has been taken to limit banking practices designed to create debt slaves out the vast majority of people. Strangely, the much-needed reforms won’t take effect for 9 months! This gives the banks plenty of time to gouge the public some more before their practices become illegal. What was Congress thinking? This only gives credence to Sen. Dick Durbin’s admission that “the banks own Congress”.
In any event, here are some of the changes to come:
The credit card act, effective Feb. 22, 2010, won’t slap caps on issuers’ rates and fees. But, it will usher in consumer-friendly changes, such as:
- No more universal default. Except under certain circumstances — for example, if a cardholder is 60 days or more late on a bill — card companies won’t be able to raise rates on existing balances.
- Consumers will get their statements at least 21 days before the due date, instead of 14 days, giving them longer to pay before late fees kick in.
- Issuers can’t charge over-limit fees unless the cardholder agrees to over-limit transactions.
- Annual percentage rates can’t be changed for the first year after a card account is opened, unless the person pays late by 60 days or more.
- Issuers must apply payments to the highest-rate balance first.