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Funny, the biggest opposition comes from conservatives who are primarily Christians who’s founder went on a rampage against money lenders. You’d think they would be the first to want to do the same against today’s money grubbing scoundrels.
You’ve got to love the banking industry.
As our friends in the financial sector were passing the hat among taxpayers last week for $700 billion in bailouts to cover their crappy mortgage investments, they were simultaneously condemning the House of Representatives’ passage of a “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” which aims to crack down on some of the industry’s more troublesome practices.
The legislation — HR 5244 — would, among other things, end card issuers’ self-proclaimed right to change interest rates at any time. [...] It also would give cardholders more time to pay by requiring issuers to mail bills at least 25 days before the due date, as opposed to the current 14 days.
[...] “We are very concerned that this bill would significantly hinder our ability to price the risks of lending and would result in less credit being made available to creditworthy borrowers at the worst possible time, with generally higher prices for those who do receive credit,” said Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman Betty Riess.
Nonsense.
“They’re using the I’ll-take-my-toys-and-go-home argument,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for Consumer Action. “But that won’t be the case. They’ll keep fighting for our business.”
[...]A Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would level the playing field by protecting consumers from questionable late fees and sudden rate hikes, and requiring clear disclosure of terms and conditions.
That doesn’t seem too much to ask of an industry that has no problem asking taxpayers to cover its bad bets.
And even if the result might be a few more people with risky credit are turned down for cards, is that such a bad thing given the volume of debt citizen’s now have?
























