Improving Credit Card Consumer Protection
The US House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit is holding a hearing today on the subject of "Improving Credit Card Consumer Protection: Recent Industry and Regulatory Initiatives". The subcommittee will hear from card issuers, consumer groups, and regulators. Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) said the hearing "will examine recent industry and regulatory initiatives, including the Federal Reserve’s recent revision of Reg Z, to help identify ways to improve credit protections for consumers." Separately, Consumer Union issued a press release this morning titled "Bank of America's Education Campaign Can't Repair Harm From Excessive Fees" in which it said "Bank of America's new campaign to simplify its disclosures of bank and credit card fees fails to mitigate the burden of excessive penalties imposed on customers."
Stumble It!
Currently consumers are at a definite disadvantage when it comes to understanding all the nuances involved with the fees and changes in rates when it comes to credit. The industry absolutely needs to be held to a greater degree of accountability with their practices and hopefully this hearing will help to make things clearer. I'm for anything that can be done on this front and luckily there are some groups out there pushing for reform like the Merchants Payments Coalition. They are a group that I work with and they, along with those testifying hopefully can get some positive motion on these issues that can help consumers.
Posted by: BDontheWeb | June 07, 2007 at 03:37 PM