Fed to Crack Down on Credit Card Co's

Fed to Crack Down on Credit Card Co's

www.washingtonpost.com

The Federal Reserve and two other banking regulators are set to unveil today one of the most aggressive efforts in decades to crack down on the credit card industry, prohibiting practices such as arbitrarily raising interest rates on outstanding balances.

The proposed regulations, which could be finalized by year's end, would label as "unfair or deceptive" practices that consumers have long complained about. That includes charging interest on debt that has been repaid and assessing late fees...

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 2-5-2008 by gottago]

Well blow me over with a feather.

Credit-card gouging, which used to be known as usury, is as American as apple pie--what's going on here?

Did TPTB finally notice that they're strangling the goose that laid the golden egg--the American consumer--by drowning them in outrageous credit-card fees, rules, and interest rates?

And just why is the Fed taking the lead here, with consumer debt? Why not traditional bank regulatory agencies?



www.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2-5-2008 by gottago]

Any bet this will be the first and last you hear about it. When my life went bad nomatter what I did they would not work with me. I think putting some CEO's in prison might help a bit

mikell

reply to post by mikellmikell

I hear you.

A family member had a run-in with Chase (Fed member bank, btw) when she was out of work a few years ago and couldn't keep up with payments: instead of easing terms, they hiked her rate from 16 to 21% because she was a bad risk! Well that only managed to set her deeper in the hole. And she's still paying what they gratuitously slapped on her bill. Outrageous.

I am ashamed to admit that I feel a bit suspicious whenever I see something like this in the news. The CC company's usurious rates schemes have cost the consumers billions upon billions, they never cared before.

I will be grateful if the government does something akin to protecting the citizens for a change, but I will still keep listening for the other shoe to drop.

yup. we had a hard time a few years back and couldn't make the bills. none of them were willing to do anything substantial to help us get our debt repaid. one of them was horrible. my regular rate was almost 20% fresh out of college. i had never missed any payments. when we hit our rough spot i made a few late payments, but never missed. my rate shot to 27%. when i asked them if they could lower my rate they proposed some really short term relief (i think it was 90 days) on the interest but then it would go back up to 27% if i'm making just over minimum payments i fail to see how that's supposed to help me knock down my balance. it got to a point that i wasn't able to pay even the minimums but was still sending what i could. one company sent me to collections. when i tried to call to pay the settled amount, they made me leave a message and never called me back - this happened more than once.

with fees and stuff there was no hope so we filed bankruptcy. best thing we could have done. i really wanted to work something out with my creditors to get them paid back but they pushed me to it. so instead of working with me to get all of their money back they got nothing. many of them were shorted $1-2k. had a student loan that wasn't gov't insured so i was also able to get it included. that was about $8k. wedding rings - about $5k. supposedly that's something they can come after but this is one of those that never returned my calls when i WANTED to give them money.

i even went to a credit counseling place to see if they could work with my creditors. 4 months went by with no agreements with any of them. i understand there are people out there that will do anything to get out of paying bills and they need to stick to their policies. for the rest of us the banks offer no options but to screw them over with a bankruptcy.

Never trust fake money schemes.... i.e. the Fed Reserve.

I've learned from my mom's credit problems. She's still like 10 to 20 thousand dollars in debt.... and the credit card companies are pure evil, man. They call or have their affiliates call 24 hours a days 7 days a week.... and when you answer the phone, either nobody responds, or you get some automated message trying to sell you something. A lotta times, the numbers are unknown on the caller ID, and even if you catch a number and have it added to your no call list, it's like it doesn't affect it at all. Almost like when it comes time to bliock creditors from harassing their "customers", seems somebody dare not block their way.

What we should do is eliminate the Federal Reserve and ALL private banking/credit corporations world-over. Go back to a tangible material standard, like gold or silver. I mean, in a perfect world, I would say eliminate currency... but the next best thing is to slowly wean off it through the coming generations, so something can come along and take it's place.

If your dumb enough to get a CC and cant pay its back its mostly your fault. I dont like the gouging . But i also dont understand why people are so dependent on these cards..

Kinda seems like your all asking to get screwed.. Everyone has known the risk/scam for a long time . Its hard to feel sorry for what to me equates to a "lemming ritual" Where one by one you all walk off the cliff..

I am sorry for the ones who didnt know what you were getting into . Or got caught up fast.. But alot of you definitely knew the risks..

Cant wait to see what comes from this . Of all the things were "protected" from .. This is definitely one that seems needed...

The one institution they really need to federally regulate is the payday loan scam. You combine desperate people who suck at managing money with a place that says "We'll give you $700 today and all you have to do is pay us $950 next week for the privaledge" and suddenly you have people who were scrimping but still getting by suddenly experiencing a huge hole taken from their paycheck every other week because they have to go back to the payday loan center to fill the hole from the previous paycheck.

I realize that people should have the right to be morons, but the government should remove all legal loopholes that permit these places to opperate in such a manner with so little risk and effort to themselves.

reply to post by d11_m_na_c05


that's nice that you want to make a blanket statement like that but let me explain my personal situation and see if you think it fits.my wife and i lived in ohio for a while and had almost no debt. the debt we had was VERY manageable. we were both making minimum wage at a pizza place. she at least got tips. we wanted to move somewhere that had some job prospects in my area of expertise so we decided to move to NC. before we even moved i made sure i had a job lined up. i found an insurance sales position. not what i was going for but it was supposedly going to be decent money and i figured i'd stick with it until i found something better. i did the interview, got hired, took the tests, and found out i couldn't get my license because of a misdemeanor on my record. i appealed and got them to give me my license but they needed confirmation that my company was actually going to hire me. because of the lenghty appeal process i was considered an inactive employee by that time so i would have to go through the process all over. so here i am 2 months without work (i was doing as much contract stuff on the side as possible to help.) we spent our savings and had to live off of credit cards. by the time i got decent work the debt was too much to handle.

now tell me how i was irresponsible.

LOL @ The fraudulent fed "cracking down" on "loan corruption"...The Epitome of Irony...Bail out one corrupt group with billions of dollars, then act like you're playing sheriff with another. Too funny.

Although I agree that CC co's are predatory scum.

[edit on 2-5-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

reply to post by an0maly33


No offense . But that still don't explain the underlying issue of why you moved ect. I'm sure your right . But it also seems like you should have had a few backup plans...

I'm not out to say your dumb or anything . More that im baffled i suppose.

I have ran my life on affordability. I cant afford kids . So i don't have any.(Not that i want any). I cant afford car insurance . So i ride a bike. (also applies to gas that i cant afford)(I also don't have a license)

Now i do understand that ~SNIP~ happens. But there are millions out there trying to live way outside there means . And wonder why there broke.. They acquire all this debt for what seems like dept's sake..

I guess i meant that blanket statement to "touch" on the people it applies too.
Dont get me wrong . If i had a child . And he needed food. You better believe i would do whatever it takes to get him/her food. But i wouldn't complain cause i had to make a tough call that hurt me in the long run...

Would i like to see a better way .. YES
Would i like to see more protection for the ways in place .. YES
Do i feel bad for the people just trying to feed there kids .. YES

Do i fell bad for the people that cant put gas in there hummers cause they owe 10k in back cc payments ? NO


Hope that helps explain my position a little better . I gotta go for a bit . Hopefully this rough draft post makes my point.