Credit Card Company Practices Curbed

The Senate approved sweeping restrictions on credit card companies. Under the bil. starting in February 2010, credit card companies will be banned from charging consumers to pay by phone and from making sudden increases in interest rates. Credit card companies will be required to give 21 days notification of payment due dates, identify how many payments would need to be made to pay off the balance if the borrower paid only the minimum payment due, and identify the total interest paid over time if only the minimum payment was paid. The general result will be increased transparency and fairness for consumers in the credit card industry.

Senate Rejects Mortgage Bankruptcy Bill

The Senate recently defeated a plan to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy, a bill President Barack Obama had embraced. This was a victory for the banking industry, who strongly opposed the bill. Meanwhile, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill backed by the Obama administration that would limit the ability of credit card companies to freely charge high fees and penalties.