Credit cards still under attack
October 8, 2009 | alternatives, federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)From today’s Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers have been angered by reports that credit-card firms have been accelerating fee and rate increases ahead of strict new rules going into effect in February. Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), who chairs the committee, said that Congress extended the effective date at the request of the financial-services industry but warned at the time that the few extra months shouldn’t be used to penalize customers.
“We were reasonable; we were fair. The banks were not,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.), during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, adding that so-called “swipe fees” were “outrageous.”
Credit-card companies were put on the defensive Thursday on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers angry with consumer-fee increases put in place in recent months said they were open to considering changes to interchange laws.
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