A day after a House committee approved a measure to place greater restrictions on credit card issuers, President Obama today endorsed the measure and urged lawmakers to go even further.
"The days of any-time, any-reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end," Obama said after meeting with credit card company executives. "No more fine print, no more confusing terms and conditions."
Among the changes to the legislation, which the House Financial Services approved and is scheduled to be debated on the House floor next week, is requiring that payments be applied to the debt with the highest interest rate. The Senate Banking Committee passed a more comprehensive measure but that chamber probably won't consider the measure until after the House completes action.
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But credit card issuers said they are concerned that the restrictions, which parallel regulations approved by the NCUA, the Federal Reserve and other regulators and are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2010, could make credit less available.
"The card issuers are currently hard at work implementing these new rules, although the Federal Reserve itself has indicated these rules are likely to shrink credit availability and result in increased rates for some consumers. The goal of any additional efforts should be to achieve the right balance between enhancing consumer protections and ensuring that credit remains available to consumers and small businesses at a reasonable cost.," American Bankers Association President/CEO Edward L. Yingling said in a statement after the meeting with Obama, which he attended.
The meeting was attended by Obama, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, three advisers to Obama and 14 representatives of banks and credit card companies. There were no credit union representatives at the session.
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