House Vote On Passage: H.R. 627: Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009 (Congress: rental car, rental)

[markas214]

Guess who voted no to stopping credit card companies from arbitrarily raising rates on people who have never paid late? Every single Arizona Republican Congressman.

A person who made purchases counting on a rate at 7% could suddenly find themselves paying 30%. This could literally bankrupt them. The banks are screwing us with bailouts and then are raping us with rate increases and fees. let's watch McCain and kyle to see where they stand. Will they back the banks or the people?

[chipnjaz]

All the more reason not to use credit cards.

[The_Cadillac_Lawyer]

All the more reason to realize that your republican legislatures DON'T really have your back!

[Rick Lee]

If you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it. Credit cards should be used for convenience, not for credit. Interest rates don't matter to me, since I don't carry balances. If you do, then you are rightly at the credit card issuers' mercy.

[Finger Laker]

I love how the holier than thou people have no qualms with everyone else being ripped off and scammed arbitrarily

it doesn't effect me so why should we have regulations and be fair?!

open up your minds and realize that this type of stuff effects all of us even if you don't carry a balance

you could of had the perfectly affordable mortgage, but that doesn't mean that you're not feeling the crunch from this last round of madness ...... same exact concept

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

I love how the holier than thou people have no qualms with everyone else being ripped off and scammed arbitrarily

it doesn't effect me so why should we have regulations and be fair?!

open up your minds and realize that this type of stuff effects all of us even if you don't carry a balance

you could of had the perfectly affordable mortgage, but that doesn't mean that you're not feeling the crunch from this last round of madness ...... same exact concept

There are regulations and no one is being ripped off who did not personally sign onto the terms and conditions AND rack up some charges. Read your cardholder's agreement. Oh, you don't read the fine print? I guess we need more laws then, so people who don't like to read can't ever get themselves into bad situations.

I have been overjoyed with my credit card companies. I get lots of points/miles from them, which covered a roundtrip flight to China recently. Amex is especially great about resolving disputes, they covered a rental car I wrecked on my honeymoon and Chase shut my card down the second the number was stolen and used in a far away place. I have nothing but profound thanks for these guys making my life easier.

Sure, I've run up a balance a few times and had to pay some finance charges. But I never blamed anyone else for it and I paid it off without whining that the gov't. needs to do more to protect me from myself. Yeah, it's really holier than thou to live within your means and expect personal responsibility from others. Call me crazy.

[_Charles_]

Sure, I've run up a balance a few times and had to pay some finance charges. But I never blamed anyone else for it and I paid it off without whining that the gov't. needs to do more to protect me from myself. Yeah, it's really holier than thou to live within your means and expect personal responsibility from others. Call me crazy.

Well said and 100% right. What is needed is personal responsibility not a rescue from Congress. All of this speaks for itself.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by markas214

Guess who voted no to stopping credit card companies from arbitrarily raising rates on people who have never paid late? Every single Arizona Republican Congressman.

A person who made purchases counting on a rate at 7% could suddenly find themselves paying 30%. This could literally bankrupt them. The banks are screwing us with bailouts and then are raping us with rate increases and fees. let's watch McCain and kyle to see where they stand. Will they back the banks or the people?

Just transfer the balance to a competing company?

Why not lobby the federal government? The democrats control all 3 pieces there and surely they'd fix this right? Oh wait, no they wouldn't but they'd TALK about fixing it so that makes them a lot different than the other party.

Curious how the credit card companies would react to a lot of this. For starters they'd probably have to restrain credit for those with low scores which might not be a bad thing.

I'm not a big fan of a lot of lending practices but at the same time...it's a free country and it often boils down to personal responsibility. You cannot demand freedoms and then expect to not live with the consequences of your actions.

[The_Cadillac_Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

I love how the holier than thou people have no qualms with everyone else being ripped off and scammed arbitrarily

it doesn't effect me so why should we have regulations and be fair?!

open up your minds and realize that this type of stuff effects all of us even if you don't carry a balance

you could of had the perfectly affordable mortgage, but that doesn't mean that you're not feeling the crunch from this last round of madness ...... same exact concept

Agreed and co-signed!!

[Finger Laker]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

There are regulations and no one is being ripped off who did not personally sign onto the terms and conditions AND rack up some charges. Read your cardholder's agreement. Oh, you don't read the fine print? I guess we need more laws then, so people who don't like to read can't ever get themselves into bad situations.

I have been overjoyed with my credit card companies. I get lots of points/miles from them, which covered a roundtrip flight to China recently. Amex is especially great about resolving disputes, they covered a rental car I wrecked on my honeymoon and Chase shut my card down the second the number was stolen and used in a far away place. I have nothing but profound thanks for these guys making my life easier.

Sure, I've run up a balance a few times and had to pay some finance charges. But I never blamed anyone else for it and I paid it off without whining that the gov't. needs to do more to protect me from myself. Yeah, it's really holier than thou to live within your means and expect personal responsibility from others. Call me crazy.

once again - i'm so smart - i know how to read and can figure out these contracts - those that can't, screw 'em .... not my problem

there is a lot of bait and switch practices here - practices that have been outlawed in many other industries

there needs to be a balance between personal and corporate responsibility

interest rates should never be near 30% ..... if i'm issuing credit and someone is that risky, i'd rather not rely on them to recoup my capital

however, they don't want to recoup their capital, they want to keep your principal nice and high and live off your interest ......... which pretty much takes them away from being a lender at all

if you have a 7% rate and get in a car wreck which makes it so you are a day late on your payment you're rate shouldn't jump to 30% ........ and even if it did there is absolutely no cause for that rate to apply on a going forward basis to a balance accrued at a lower rate .... it's pure BS

these lenders aren't doing themselves any favors either, it's short sighted

it's also bad for the economy as a whole - if the bulk of the population is paying their discretionary income to pay down interest without relieving their debt load it hampers their consumerism that our economy is pretty much based on ... at some point you will hit a critical mass and it will send shockwaves through the entire economy (think people aren't buying products, companies retract, this leads to lower wages & layoffs, which leads to more retraction, which leads to more debt load as people try to bridge, which leads to eventually less spending, which leads to default and bankruptcy and ultimately a tightening of the credit markets)

the game shouldn't be so heavily slanted - a $200 montly payment should do more than ease your debt load by $30

in the end you'd have healthier lenders and healthier consumers - put curbs back on the selection process, lower rates and get back to sound financial underwriting and philosophy