The smack down on credit card companies had grown very popular and President Obama has stated that he would like to have the bill on his desk by Memorial Day. The Senate's new bill is tougher than a similar bill passed in the House last month. The Senate bill still faces possible amendments and could change further.
The current Senate Bill would:
- Go into effect nine months after passage, which is sooner than the House bill.
- Ban gift card issuers from charging "dormancy fees" on cards redeemed too late: the House bill doesn't address gift cards
- Prevent those under 21 from getting a credit card unless they can prove they have an income stream to pay off debt or have their parent's signature; the House bill places less onerous restrictions on those under 18.
- Allow credit card issuers to raise fees if a consumer is 60 days late on a payment, the House bill and Federal Reserve rules allow fee hikes after payment is 30days late.
Credit card industry advocates caution that the Senate bill won't be the final word on the issue, and they plan to fight some of the provisions.
"We have serious concerns with the Senate bill, and we oppose any amendments to the bill," Scott Talbott, a lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group.
At the rate things are moving it will end up being next year July before this gets done. That's when the original bill was scheduled to go into action. If you think this is the right thing to do, press to have this bill passed.
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