Congress Plans To Propose Reforms On Credit Cards

Credit Union Journal, The, March, 2008 by Ed Roberts, Washington Bureau Chief

Lawmakers called last week for reforms to credit card rules and disclosures and to bar to some of the most controversial credit card issuer practices that change the terms of a loan after the issuance of credit.

“The practices of the credit card industry, in some ways, may be more troubling than that in the subprime market,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., one of 82 House sponsors of The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, adding, “it is not at all clear to consumers how and when their interest rates are going to increase.”

Among the practices the bill would bar are so-called universal default, which allows card companies to raise rates when a cardholder had defaulted on a debt with another debtor;...

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