15% cap rejected by Senate
May 14, 2009 | alternatives, federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)As this Bloomberg story says, a 15% cap on credit cards rates was rejected last night by the Senate. The questions is, will Durbin or anyone else offer a 36% rate cap on all lending today.
The Senate may pass the so-called credit-card bill of rights measure as early as today, said Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd. Approval would send the measure to a committee to resolve differences with a House version.
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last number of months trying to help stabilize the financial system,” said Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat. “A lot of attention has been paid to banks. We haven’t spent enough time trying to help consumers.”
Senators yesterday voted 60-33 to invoke budget rules that killed the rate cap proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. Sanders said the action was needed to stop banks from routinely charging 25 percent to 30 percent on credit cards.
“When banks are charging 30 percent interest rates, they’re not making credit available, they’re engaged in loan- sharking,” Sanders said.
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