Fuck you banks! Senate voted 90 to 5 to impose new terms and limits on the credit-card industry.

[lonestarnot]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/19/eveningnews/main5026108.shtml

CBS) The Senate passed a major reform of the credit card industry Tuesday that clamps down on arbitrary fee and interest rate increases. But even after President Barack Obama signs the bill, the law won't fully take effect for nine months.

That's a nine-month loophole, and as CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason reports, consumer groups are concerned the credit card companies will use the time to hike up interest rates and fees while they can.

At a credit counseling center in Dallas, calls for help are up 40 percent over a year ago. Many come from borrowers buried in credit card debt.

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/05/19/credit-card-bill-what-it-does-what-it-doesnt-do/

Credit-card bill: What it does, what it doesn’t do
Supporters and critics agree that it greatly empowers consumers and changes the credit-card industry.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer/ May 19, 2009 edition
Print this Letter to the Editor Republish Email and shareGet e-mail alerts RSS

Lauren Victoria Burke/AP

Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D) of Connecticut speaks at a press conference in Washington after the Senate passed a bill that further regulates the credit-card industry Tuesday.


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In a rare rebuff to financial interests, the Senate voted 90 to 5 to impose new terms and limits on the credit-card industry.

It is a comprehensive measure that “fundamentally changes the entire business model of credit cards,” says the American Bankers Association, which opposed the bill. They say it will raise costs to consumers and limit access to credit.

Consumers groups also say the legislation will significantly change the relationship between Americans and their credit-card companies. But that, they say, is all to the good.

[rockymountaindem]

1. I'm sure this was plenty weak if so many Republicans and conservative Dems voted for it n/t

[lonestarnot]

3. No cap on interest rates or fees. HMMMF FUCK YOU BANKS!

No cap on interest rates or fees. It does not put a maximum on the interest rates or fees that credit-card companies can charge consumers.
Among the things it does:

-Hidden fees. It bans arbitrary interest-rate increases and hidden fees, such as charges for paying off a credit-card bill over the telephone.

-Full disclosure. It requires clear disclosure of the terms of credit-card agreements and any changes made to them.

-Universal default. It bans the practice of “universal default,” which allows companies to dramatically raise interest rates on a credit card if the consumer is more than 30 days late on any other payment.

-Freeze on rate increases. It prohibits companies from increasing rates on a cardholder in the first year and requires promotional rates to last at least six months. Rate increases must be periodically reviewed and decreased if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time for six months.

-Delays in payment. It prohibits companies from assessing late fees if the card issuer has delayed crediting the payment.

-Same-day payments at local banks. It stipulates that payments made at local branches must be credited the same day.

-Credit-limit fees. It bans credit-card companies from charging fees when users exceed their credit limits, unless the cardholder has specifically agreed to allow over-limit transactions. In this case, all penalty fees must be reasonable and proportional to the overcharge – that is, no huge rate increases for a purchase that barely tipped the credit limit. If the cardholder has not agreed to allow over-limit transactions, they would simply be rejected.

-Early-morning deadlines. It prohibits issuers from setting early-morning deadline for credit-card payments.

-Statements and notifications. It stipulates that credit-card statements must be mailed 21 days before the bill is due. Previously, the requirement was 14 days. Consumers must now be given 45 days notice of any fee, rate, or penalty increases.

-Application of overpayments. It mandates that payments over the minimum be applied first to the credit-card balance with the highest rate of interest. Card-companies typically apply extra payments to balances with the lowest rate of interest.

-Fair disclosure. It requires issuers to disclose the time and total interest costs it would take to pay off credit card balances, if consumers pay only the required minimum.

-Protections for young cardholders. It provides special protections for consumers under the age of 21. These applicants must have a co-signer who is willing to accept responsibility for payment or proof that he or she has means to repay any credit extended. In cases of joint liability, the co-signer must approve in writing any increase in the credit limit.

Among the things the legislation does not do:

-No cap on interest rates or fees. It does not put a maximum on the interest rates or fees that credit-card companies can charge consumers.

-Disputes don’t go to court. It does not do away with the requirement that consumers with a dispute against their credit card companies take it to arbitration, rather than to the courts. Arbitration decisions typically favor credit-card companies, consumer groups say.

-Interchange fees. The highly controversial issue of “interchange fees” was deferred to a study by the US Government Accountability Office. Retailers wanted Congress to regulate the fees charged to merchants every time a consumer uses a credit card for payment, eating into their profits.

[Hepburn]

2. So....who are the 5 assholes against it?

I bet we can name the names without going to the Senate Roll Call!

:hi:

[mrcheerful]

4. Well according to local wing nuts around my area of the state

the bill doesn't do anything except offers a great show piece so Dems can claim they did something to stop what amounts to bad usage by the consumers to fraud credit card companies. After all credit card companies are fair business people that are concerned for their customers and the government is screwing it up for those honest business folks. Which is why Granholm has lost so much business out of the state. I kid you not the stupid runs deep around here.

[Occam Bandage]

5. It was a good bill. Not a great bill by any means but a good one.

[Hepburn]

6. Nay votes:

Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Thune (R-SD)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00194

Well, I got two of them without looking: Thune and Kyl.

Surprised at Johnson, tho.''

[dflprincess]

9. Didn't a lot of credit card companies locate to South Dakota

because the state has no usury laws? (I see both SD senators on the list)

[Hepburn]

14. It's gotta be something like that....

...for both to vote NAY.

Thune ~~ I can see that one, but Johnson??? :shrug:

[liberalhistorian]

20. Yes, that is, unfortunately,

quite correct.

[liberalhistorian]

19. I know, I'm extremely disappointed in him as well as his

surprising support for, and large donations from, the payday lending industry. His office will definitely be hearing from me tomorrow, no question.

[Hepburn]

23. Wow....

....I did not know about the PayDay donations. IMO, that is a very evil business. How they get past the usery laws, I will never know.

[Riley18]

7. The credit card companies can still charge any rate they want to? How does

this help exactly?

[sendero]

8. This is feel-good...

.. oh lookie what we did legislation.

The reforms here are modest, and that is a gross understatement. Really, this bill is going to help no one.

Our government is truly owned by the banks.

[dflprincess]

10. I really think this is an indicator of what kind of health care access "reform"

we can expect.

[sendero]

11. Unfortunately...

... I think you are quite right.

Nibbling at the edges. Nothing of any import or substance.

[Old Hob]

12. It's as if the old mafia loan shark types have infiltrated banking and government. nt

[dysfunctional press]

13. it's actually a bigger fuck you! to card holders.

that's why so many repugs voted for it.

[iamthebandfanman]

22. yup, we bailed them all out

and they still get to charge us whatever they want, whenever they want... they just hafta let us know they are doing it... whooopity dooo

double fucked if you ask me ;)

[MasonJar]

15. The bill does not have a limit on %s, but it does allow those gun lovers

to help themselves to whatever kill they want, man or beast.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. does this law have a 9 month gestation period?

[DatManFromNawlins]

17. I gave up trying to talk to credit card companies

Between an unemployment period where I was literally plunging every dime I had to keep monthly payments up, and Katrina's aftermath that saw me out of work for almost 2 years, I simply gave up trying to pay them back. One company sued me in 2006, the rest can go screw.

Statute of limitations in my state is 3 years, and every time some shithead collection agency buzzes me, I tell them to sue me if I they think they can get anything outta me, because by the time they lawyer up and pay for court fees, they'll have paid almost the entire original balance of the card, and I STILL won't have to pay a dime.

Yeah, my credit blows, but it's only going to get better from here on out, and I don't need a new car every 3 years like most people I know. Mine is 15 years old, and while some things don't work (got a busted muffler, cracked radiator that I fixed with superglue and waterweld, AC has been repaired 3 times and doesn't work, and the antenna was broken off), it gets me to work and back every day.

I'm not the one who refused to defer the payments, the credit card companies were.

[liberalhistorian]

18. And my very own two senators were two of the

no votes, disgustingly enough. Thune I fully expected, that dipshit corporatist wingnut only cares about those holding the bags of money, period, he's always made that clear in actions, statements and votes. But Johnson was a MAJOR disappointment, I expected much better from him. Coupled with his support of, and large donations from, the payday lending industry that is devastating so many of this state's desperate residents, I'm getting more and more disillusioned with him.

The problem is that the credit card industry is a huge economic presence in SD, and many of their headquarters are in Sioux Falls. Twenty or so years ago, the state changed the usury laws, lifting the caps on rates to attract these industries. It worked very well, and now the state's federal reps are either beholden to the industry or held captive to its economic power and clout and the fact that it's a major employer in the state so that any votes against the industry are seen as being against employees. Truly disgusting. I even heard a state economic official boasting on NPR last week that the debt collection industry has been "booming" in the state lately due to the economy. Yeah, that's really something to be proud of alright. Uh-huh.

[Wednesdays]

21. K&R

:kick: