Credit Card Reform Stalls

The move to speed up the credit card reform legislation stalled in the United States Senate as several Seators blocked a vote on the legislation.
 
The reform bill had passed the U.S. House of Representatives but needed the vote of the Senate to move on for a Presidential signature and to become law.
 
The Congress approved a bill that will speed up the implementation of credit card reform legislation passed earlier this year.
 
Originally the legislation – which places restrictions on some of the credit card industries most controversial practices – was planned to phase in through Summer 2010. The push has been for a December 2009 implementation.
 
Advocates pushed the bill as a way to cut down on some of the tougher policy changes made by credit card companies that have accompanied the bill. According to news reports, some credit card companies are meeting the new legislation with higher fees, raised interest rates, account closures, and other measures taken by the banks to limit their exposure.
 
“Consumers obviously have a responsibility to spend within our means and to pay what we owe. We bear that responsibility. But the credit card industry as well has a responsibility to deal with their customers honorably. There is nothing honorable about what’s happened with these significant rate increases and fees. Most importantly, they don’t have a right to rip off American families, especially when the Congress has already gone on record opposing the very actions they’re engaging in,” said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
 
However, a survey of 57 credit institutions by the Federal Reserve found seventy-five percent of banks did not expect to reach compliance until February 2010, raising doubts about the viability of an expedited December schedule.