U.S. Sen. Mark Udall will try to attach a credit-card consumer-rights bill to key legislation extending unemployment benefits, and U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey is sponsoring a bill to freeze cardholders’ interest rates.
The moves are intended to protect card users from arbitrary rate hikes before February, when the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act takes effect.
Some credit-card companies haven’t helped their image by seeking to raise rates beforehand or — as Citibank and Bank of America did recently — announcing they would place new fees on cardholders who don’t carry a balance.
Last week, Udall introduced a bill to move the effective date of CARD to Dec. 1. When Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., introduced a bill to freeze rates immediately, Udall joined that effort as an original co-sponsor.
Markey on Wednesday introduced a House version of Dodd’s bill and fired off a letter to Citibank and Bank of America. “Penalizing consumers for responsible credit practices is both absurd and unfair,” she wrote, noting the $45 billion in bailout funds the two companies have each received in the past year.
Michael Riley, The Denver Post
