Obama backs bill to lessen credit card interest burden (Barack Obama, lobbyists, lobby)

[delusianne]

Following up on pledges he made during the campaign to curtail the high fees and rates, President Barack Obama met at the White House on Thursday with top executives from the nation's largest credit card companies to pressure them to take steps that officials say would reduce abusive practices.
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On Wednesday the House Financial Services committee overwhelmingly approved a bill that would reduce many fees and limit the ability of the credit card companies to charge penalties.
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Industry lobbyists have been working closely with Senate Republicans to try to block the passage [and] say the legislation would have the effect of further reducing lending at a time when credit card companies and consumers are facing tight credit restrictions because of the difficulty of obtaining financing in the secondary markets.

Obama backs bill to lessen credit card interest burden - National Business - MiamiHerald.com

[HappyTexan]

That's all well and good but it won't take affect until 2010 which gives the banks plenty of time to reduce limits and bump up rates now and that's exactly what the banks are doing.

By the time this goes into effect the banks won't care and it won't help Joe Mainstreet much at all.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123922365800702453.html

[pghquest]

More wining from the liberals, boo hoo hoo, they loaned me money and now they want paid, with a profit.. boo hoo hoo

What, people didnt think their credit card bills would go up to compensate for bad loans?

[Captain Worley]

I pay in full every month, so it doesn't affect me one way or the other. If more people did this, it wouldn't be an issue.

[Canerican]

If you spent the money on your credit card, you pay it back. If you don't have the money don't spend it.

I would be more in favor of criminalizing credit cards than this.

[booker_one]

that's great. now the government is getting involved in everything. i wonder how long it will be until obama tells me how many times i can flush my own toilet each day.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by Captain Worley

I pay in full every month, so it doesn't affect me one way or the other. If more people did this, it wouldn't be an issue.

If more people paid all of their cards off every month then the opposite effect would have.

Banks essentially loan you money till the end of the month and receive no interest in return. If everyone did this, they would start charging fees the minute you used the card instead of waiting till the billing cycle begins.

Most likely that will be the outcome from this, after all, if banks are going to give in one area, they are going to take in another, banks do have to make money..

[HappyTexan]

But our economy is based on "consumer spending" so the government has an incentive to get people able to get into debt.

Banks raising rates should be a no brainer to consumers....stop using the cards. Eventually the banks would lower rates to get customers. But I guess too many people are dependent on CC debt to live their lives so it's now become a government concern.

[ZugZub]

Originally Posted by pghquest

More wining from the liberals, boo hoo hoo, they loaned me money and now they want paid, with a profit.. boo hoo hoo

What, people didnt think their credit card bills would go up to compensate for bad loans?

And then there are those of us who are never late on payments, always pay the card off or pay more than the minimum, never carry a full balance, and are still getting our rates increased and our limits decreased. You think this is fair? Those of us who are responsible are getting penalized for you yahoos who can't take care of their finances.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by ZugZub

And then there are those of us who are never late on payments, always pay the card off or pay more than the minimum, never carry a full balance, and are still getting our rates increased and our limits decreased. You think this is fair? Those of us who are responsible are getting penalized for you yahoos who can't take care of their finances.

Yes absolutely fair and here is why.

1) If you NEVER carry a balance, the banks make ZERO from you, how do you expect them to make money? (in fact they lose money on you)
2) If banks are making NO money from you, why would they not decrease your limits and move their business to people they do make money from?
3) If banks are not making money from you, they are over charging someone else that they do make money from.. You think thats fair? (p.s. of course it is, that was the agreement we all signed up with)

Only disagreement I have is that credit card companies can raise your rates after you've made a charge, buy something at 10%, banks can raise the rate to 20% just because, other than that, people can and choose to use credit, if banks are forced to lower profits in one area then dont be surprised when they lower or cancel your card all together, after all, if they cant make money from you, why should they extend you credit at all?