Obama Pitches Credit Card Reform

Caveat Emptor.. go after used car dealers.. or Ponzi scheme perps.. or left thumbed butchers..

What I've read here.. many of us don't have credit card problems..

Too many credit card companies act as if they are loan sharks ripping people off. They get a percentage of each sale from the store you made the credit card purchase so charging you the agreed upon interest rate should satisfy them.
Changing their interest rates to 30% after a late payment borders on the criminal.
I am so glad that Congress and President Obama want to rein in the outright greed of some of these companies. My one credit card is with a credit union and they don't have any of the nonsense some of these mega-bank credit card companies have in their agreements. I've heard the most of the smaller hometown banks don't rip off their customers either.
Changing these rules will level the playing field and insure no one gets completely ripped off.

jhw539

Current taxation is rough on only a few.. government spending is wasteful, I disagree with your assessment about the U.S. .. on too many issues to elaborate..

I'm not worried about the tax expirations, just cap gains increases, hidden taxes (cap/trade, sin taxes, fuel taxes)..

My point is that if POTUS wants to put money into our pockets.. he can do it directly..

I'm glad you brought this up.. my household has been stung by state and federal taxation under the current rates and rules.

"For example, instituting a service fee if your account has no financing charges for 12 months with no clear notice given to existing card holders."

Making that clearer would be helpful. Credit cards can be hard to figure out sometimes and some changes should be made. I think most card users don't use them wisely or take time to know the details. I have no problem with card companies charging what they want as long as it's clear. Users have a responsibility too.

Thank God Obama's here to save us all from ourselves!

I know I was getting awfully tired of being responsible for my own actions, and living up to the contracts I signed.

Why, it's almost like being cradled in the soft love of my parent's home again...

Sigmonde:"Just because you pay your balance off does not mean you won't have a finance charge for the credit you used. "

That is not what I am referring to. What I am referring to is credit card contracts that are so complex and incomprehensible that they allow for nearly arbitrary fees to be added in a manner no reasonable person could avoid. For example, instituting a service fee if your account has no financing charges for 12 months with no clear notice given to existing card holders. Most Americans don't think this is fair and would like such shenanigans banned. Abruptly doubling the interest rate overnight for no discernible reason is also pretty questionable and extraordinarily damaging to those who carry a balance.

"even if you don't read the fine print closely enough, paying it off in full every month could result in a charge'

Just because you pay your balance off does not mean you won't have a finance charge for the credit you used. I suspect the people who most complain about credit cards are those don't use them wisely.

Fascist Hyena:"Does that mean 90% of Americans are so stupid that they don't pay their credit cards off monthly?"

If you don't read the fine print closely enough, paying it off in full every month could result in a charge (perhaps as a servicing fee newly instituted without your notification, as paragraph 72 interpreted in accordance with existing contract law precedent clearly allows).

DontGet818OnMeNow:"we would just like the federal government to relax it's demand for our money"

How so? The current rate of taxation is the lowest it's been in several generations. Could you cite a specific percent of your income that you think is fair to support the governance of the largest, most prosperous, and most productive free country humanity has ever seen? Or is it just keep cutting taxes lower until the government falls?

The banks charged so much in fees and interest charges.. that they went under.

This is just another symptom of a society who feels "entitled" to everything they can get their hands on and Obama continues to feed the masses with so-called help. Credit cards they can't afford, houses they can't afford - now they want the government to "bail" them out for bad decisions they made in the first place.

It is time people took personal responsibility for the decisions they make. I own and am living in a house I can afford and I pay off my one credit card every month. Try it - it feels really good.

"90 Percent of Americans are tired of getting ripped off!"

Does that mean 90% of Americans are so stupid that they don't pay their credit cards off monthly? Neither my wife nor I have ever paid a penny in credit card interest. Anyone who does is terminally stupid.

Not everyone has a card balance or minimum payment or late fees.. we would just like the federal government to relax it's demand for our money.. so POTUS.. there are people that you could help financially.. short of beating up on commercial enterprises...

Steve:"But are credit card rules so important that the president's face time has to be devoted to them?"

Depending who you talk to, defaults on credit card debit or the feared second or third wave of bubble collapse (first was residential housing, second is cards or commercial real estate). Getting in front of that now could mitigate the damage, not by a bailout but by a 'stop digging' approach to reduce the hole a bailout may need to fill. The average credit card debt per US household is over $8k, so this is a big deal for a lot of folks out there.

Some credit cards have been abusing contracts and should be reigned in. For example, doubling the interest rate on someone carrying a balance that was run up under a much lower rate and assumption that rate would be what it was paid off under. This isn't about a bailout, this is just about putting in some commonsense parameters on acceptable consumer contracts - just like banning loan sharking.

1. Payoff credit cards when bill arrives.
2. Interest rate on credit cards should be 3-5% above Fed. rate.

Most of the reforms I've heard about seem eminently reasonable--applying payments to the highest interest balances first, for example.

I wonder if this is really a big issue, however. As Obama likes to say, he has a lot to deal with now, and can't get around to "minor" things like repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, etc. But are credit card rules so important that the president's face time has to be devoted to them? I never thought it was that big of a deal, but then again, I never carry a balance.

Obviously, I don't mean he do that, but he could ask Congress to do it.

President Obama could give taxpayers with credit card debt immediate relief by doing a one-time reinstatement of the credit card interest tax deduction.

Yeah, paying your bills on time is such a rip-off. Isn't that why we have government? I mean all those credit cards they force on us. And all that spending they make us do. It's just obscene!