Today's US Senate Hearing on Credit Card Practices
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is holding a hearing today titled "Credit Card Practices: Fees, Interest Rates, and Grace Periods."
Speaking from the industry will be Bruce Hammonds , President, Bank of America Card Services; Richard Srednicki, Chief Executive Officer, Chase Bank USA, N.A.; and Vikram Atal, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Citi Cards.
According to an article by Kathleen Day of the Washington Post, the CEO of Chase Card Services "will apologize to Congress today for charging a financially strapped customer $7,500 in interest charges and late fees on purchases of $3,200, the company said yesterday."
According to the hearing notice, today's hearing is "the first of several Subcommittee hearings that will examine a variety of credit card practices that raise concerns. This hearing will focus on how credit card issuers apply interest rates and fees to consumer accounts. It will examine, for example, how credit card issuers select and apply interest rates and, for consumers carrying a balance forward, eliminate grace periods for repaid debts. It will also analyze high fees charged for late payments, over-the-limit charges, and other matters, including how those fees are assessed, how they add to interest costs, and how they contribute to consumer debt. In addition, the hearing will examine an industry practice requiring consumer payments to be applied first to balances with the lowest interest rates instead of to balances with the highest interest rates.
Add your comment... (note that all comments are reviewed before they're published)