Today Congressman Dan Maffei announced he is co-sponsoring legislation that will protect consumers from further abuses by credit card companies. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), author of the credit card reform bill signed earlier this year by President Obama, and Barney Frank (D-MA), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced the legislation last week. The legislation changes the effective date for the reforms in that bill to December 1, 2009.
H.R. 3639, the ‘‘Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009,” would move up the effective date of the remaining provisions of the Credit CARD Act, which are now scheduled for February and August 2010.
Representative Maffei said: “Protecting consumers from unfair credit card company practices has been a primary concern of mine since I took office. I was proud to work on the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, but the work is not done. Credit card companies fought the Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, claiming that to ensure good customer service they needed years to put in place all of the changes. Now those same companies are rushing to increase fees and interest rates before the Cardholders’ Bill of Rights fully takes effect. That is why we need this bill, to expedite the process and effectively protect consumers.”
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said: “Dan Maffei has demonstrated leadership on protecting consumers since Congress began and this is a continuation of that work.”
Representative Maloney said: “Pew Charitable Trust reports that interest rates have spiked by an average of 20% on credit cards representing more than 91% of the $864 billion in outstanding credit card balances. It’s clear that credit card companies are taking advantage of this period between the signing of my bill and the current effective date. The breadth and depth of the rate hikes happening now point to the need for faster consumer protections. Americans need relief now.”
For complete bill text, click here.
