Obama Pledges Protections for Credit-Card Users

Associated Press
April 24, 2009
Feller, Ben; Aversa, Jeannine

President Obama told credit card industry executives on April 23 that he hopes to soon sign a bill into law to protect consumers. He is pushing for legislation that would prevent unexpected fee hikes, mandate easy-to-understand disclosures without fine print, facilitate comparison shopping for credit cards, and beef up enforcement against companies that violate these protections. Obama said, "The days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end." After the closed-door meeting at the White House, American Bankers Association President Edward Yingling said the executives plan to work with the president to address his concerns. Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and panel member Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) petitioned financial industry regulators to move more quickly on new consumer protections. In a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the National Credit Union Administration, the legislators requested that the agencies enforce their new rules immediately, instead of waiting for the approved July 2010 implementation date. A spokesperson for the Fed acknowledged that the letter had been received and that the issues put forth in it were being discussed.