Comptroller seeks weaker credit card reforms

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2008 | by Kathy Chu

In an unusual move, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has asked other federal regulators to scale back a proposal to crack down on unfair and deceptive credit card practices.

The proposal -- issued earlier this year by the Federal Reserve, Office of Thrift Supervision and National Credit Union Administration -- would ban credit card issuers from raising interest rates on existing balances, except in certain circumstances, such as when a promotional rate expires. It would also require banks to apply at least part of any payment to higher-rate balances and clamp down on fees charged to consumers with blemished credit.

The proposal has drawn a record 61,000 comments, most of them from consumers with credit card complaints. In May, after the Fed...