Credit Cardholders Bill Of Rights

Hi Virginia,

At the end of July, something happened that our chief consumer advocate, Ed Mierzwinski, hadn't seen before in his 19 years in Washington, D.C.

The banks swung and missed.

They lost a key committee vote on the PIRG-backed Credit Cardholders Bill Of Rights -- a bill to rein in unfair and abusive practices.

Help us throw strike two. Send a message to Speaker Pelosi and ask her to bring the bill to a full vote in the House.

http://www.wispirg.org/action/consumerprotection/email2?id4=ES

Maybe strike one against the banks shouldn't have surprised Ed so much. After all, Americans are fed up.

This summer, more than 50,000 consumers wrote to the Federal Reserve to urge that agency to finalize their proposal to rein in the credit card companies.

Then, in July, the PIRG-sponsored bill to ensure decent treatment for credit cardholders was considered. Among its many provisions: prohibiting credit card companies from raising your rates to 36% APR or more if you are as little as one day late; prohibiting similar penalty rate changes based on your payment history with another company or even no reason at all; and banning the practice of charging more interest on amounts you already paid them (yes, they can do that).

As I mentioned, the credit card companies experienced their first setback when that bill passed a key committee in late July.

Now it's time to deal them another blow. We need to bring the bill to an up-or-down vote in the House.

http://www.wispirg.org/action/consumerprotection/email2?id4=ES

The banks are fighting back, hard. They're begging Speaker Pelosi not to bring the bill to the floor this year, even though consumers are hurting from the burden of debt brought on by these unfair credit card company practices right now.

With enough public support, we can give consumers a fair deal.

Thanks in advance for taking action.


Sincerely,

Bruce Speight
WISPIRG Advocate

http://www.WISPIRG.org

UPDATE: Strike two.

Thanks to your calls and e-mails, yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives threw a fastball past the banks. Despite a flurry of opposition letters and ads from bank associations and even the President, the House overwhelmingly enacted the bi-partisan Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights on a 312-122 vote, banning the worst unfair credit card tricks and traps.

If we can, we'll attach the bill to any bailout of Wall Street Congress moves. But the House victory is a win on its own, since it sends a strong message to the Federal Reserve not to weaken its proposed rules.

It's one more victory for the public interests that we couldn't have accomplished without you. And it's one strike closer to striking out the credit card companies in the next Congress.
Hi,



The bill number is HR5244. If you go to this website and where it says word/phrase, scroll down to bill number, and then enter H.R. 5244, you can go in and read the bill.

Let me know if you have further questions, but I can assure you that the reason we are working to pass this bill is because it offers substantive consumer friendly protections. Also, there is a lot more information on this issue and bill here:

Thanks for your interest, and let me know if you have further questions.

Bruce Speight
WISPIRG Advocate
www.wispirg.org