Editorial – A Gift to Credit Card Companies – NYTimes.com

by Melanie on 21/11/09 at 12:27 pm

Senate Committee Debates Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill For War

It seems simple to believe that people are motivated by money—it talks and bullshit walks, right?—but why do I struggle to believe that anyone could so deliberately screw over his constituents? It gives rise to a feeling of outrage.

“Congress left consumers extremely vulnerable when it gave the credit card industry as long as 15 months to end the deceptive predatory practices outlawed in the spring in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. The credit card industry, which clearly wants to make a killing in the Christmas season, used this unnecessarily long grace period to intensify its predations, doubling interest rates on people who pay on time and driving up rates by an industry wide average of about 20 percent.

These ravages seemed not to have registered with Senator Thad Cochran, a Republican of Mississippi, who represents the nation’s poorest and most economically vulnerable state. On Wednesday, Mr. Cochran blocked a vote on a bill introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat of Connecticut, that would have immediately frozen credit card interest rates and fees.”

via Editorial – A Gift to Credit Card Companies – NYTimes.com.

Here’s the pdf: Editorial – A Gift to Credit Card Companies – NYTimes.com