Reuters: Credit Card Usury Bill Coming Soon in the House

[flpoljunkie]

Credit card usury bill coming soon in House

By Kevin Drawbaugh
Reuters

Wednesday, November 25, 2009; 6:13 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several congressional Democrats said on Wednesday they plan to introduce legislation next week to cap credit card interest rates.

With unemployment and Wall Street bonuses incongruously rising together, the chairman of the House Rules Committee said she will offer a bill to cap rates at 16 percent, a proposal that could catch a wave of Populist sentiment in the House.

"Things were a lot better for the average person in this country when we had usury caps," Representative Louise Slaughter, head of the rules panel, said in a statement.

"Watching how credit card companies have exploited people by increasing rates up to 30 percent and more is criminal and this bill will allow us to put an end to this," she said.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/25/AR2009112503628.html

[AllentownJake]

1. Evan Bayh is not going to be happy

He worked very hard to strip as much of the guts out of the original bill as possible with his shit eating grin.

[flpoljunkie]

5. Bayh voted NO on Bernie Sanders usury amendment in April which fell 31-67.

The good guys...

YEAs ---31

Begich (D-AK)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Cardin (D-MD)
Casey (D-PA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Udall (D-NM)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00140

[brentspeak]

9. s/del

[brentspeak]

11. Actually, I'm confused by your link above, fplojunkie

Because of http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00191">this vote on the same issue. (some senators voted differently on the two almost identical measures)

[flpoljunkie]

26. Bernie tried twice to pass a usury law this year. Both times it failed.

[andym]

19. So this means even if by some miracle. a CC cap can pass the House

it is doomed in the Senate?

[flpoljunkie]

27. Probably. Remember what Durbin said of the banks, 'Frankly, they own the place.'

[DCKit]

10. Evan won't be the only one moping in a corner.

Chris Dodd (with supernatural hindsight) was making excuses for pushing the horrible current (lack of) rules on the news yesterday and I soooooooo wanted to throw something at the screen.

[iceman66]

2. This would be great if it actually happened,

but I'm sure the Rethugs and the blue dogs will team up to kill it, just like with everything else.

[wroberts189]

3. KNR KNR KNR KNR ..nt

[brentspeak]

4. If Obama wants to increase his popularity rating

and do the right thing, he'll get on the stump and demand that Congress pass such a bill.

Gazing down from Mt. Olympus and saying nothing on these matters hasn't helped him or us so far.

[riverwalker]

6. make it retroactive

and make the fuckers refund all interest above 16%.

[Sinti]

7. I like the way you think on this n/t

[izzybeans]

8. +1000%

[poverlay]

13. Hell, I'd be rich. One late payment last year and they jacked my rate to 30% and lowered my limit.

That's after paying religiously for ten years. I'm so tempted to just stop paying the douchepickles. I have decent income and would probably be able to get my credit rating back faster through bankruptcy than through actually paying them.
Isn't that what the rich people do? I think it's called: "Declaring a loss...".

I know, let's just all stop paying. A little mob justice is waaay past due in this country. Be it for douchepickles like Chase and Citi, or rapists like Bush, and Cheney. I mean, who wouldn't love to see these rat-fu$%^rs sweat to feed their children?

We may not be able to discuss/plan overthrowing the government, but how about over-throwing the "industrial-financial complex"? Sort of a boycott on crack.

[sojourner]

22. new bankruptcy rules REQUIRE paying back creditors if you have decent income don't they?

I like the gist of your comment...just that they've seen to it, imo, that THEY are the only ones who get to "declare a loss" while the rest of us are expected to suck it up. Or be declared "deadbeats" by the morally superior.

[lunatica]

29. The credit card companies can sell anything they think they'll get something

for. They can request a walk through your house and take whatever they think will get them money. They can also take your car if it's worth more than $2,500, sell it and give you back $2,500 so you can buy yourself another one.

I looked into it extensively when I got my layoff letter. They wrote the bankruptcy laws.

[Deja Q]

24. [phone]^10^11^12

:)

[formercia]

12. My Credit Union charges 8.5 % on Visa

Anything more is EXTORTION.

[poverlay]

16. I think 10% ish is quite reasonable. How hard would it be to start our own credit card company?

The company of the little guy, for the little guy, by the little guy. A declaration of financial independence, and a constitution for the "United States of We're Tired of Being Screwed Over By Businesses, Most Especially Finance Companies, So We Started Our Own".
Might have to come up with a snappier name, but you get my drift..

[sojourner]

23. Now that's an idea! Apparently not all that hard to start a bank. But gotta hurry before they start

regulating again! (IF you get serious about this idea keep me in the loop, please!)

[depakid]

28. Credit unions already have a cap on interest rates

and remained healthier than most banks- a fact that many Democratic Senators chose to ignore.

[Impedimentus]

14. Nationalize the big banks that are destroying our country.

Keep the credit unions and some smaller banks. The new National Bank of the United States would loan money to individuals and businesses at rates a few percentage points above the Fed rates. Credit would be freed up immediately, oppressive consumer debt would almost disappear, and the marauding vampire banks would be history.

Like single payer health care and affordable public higher education, it will never happen. Big Money controls the government and soon it will control every aspect of our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Cha]

15. Kick and a Rec'd for Good Luck!

[RepublicanElephant]

17. once again, elections matter. nt

[andym]

18. Great stuff-- even though many would lose their cards

I think it's important to use CAPs wisely. And a 16% cap still leaves plenty of profit for the CC issuers.
Even though many would lose their CC (because they would be considered too risky), I think it's the right way to go.

[Hekate]

20. An 8-10% cap would leave plenty of profit as well. The credit card companies just got greedy...

... like every other corporation over the past 20 years.

Hekate

[Vinnie From Indy]

21. This issue affects more and more Americans

The fact is that millions and millions of Americans have seen their rates rise to 29.99% solely at the whim of the credit card issuers. These usurious rates are for balances that many simply could never pay off immediately. I would offer that the lack of any restraints on the CC companies rate hikes is a MAJOR impediment to economic recovery. Many millions of folks are scared shitless because their credit card payments have doubled, tripled and quadrupled in the last year. It is mind boggling that Congress would allow this to happen in this economy. Keeping the credit card companies from acting like mafia loansharks would seem to be an easy step to take to protect Americans and move the economy forward. But, it seems that big banking once again rules the roost.

[Raineyb]

25. I'll wait until there's a bill.

Too many corporate whores about to water it down.