Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights 2009

[ksluis62]

Last year, the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights passed in the House, but stalled in the Senate. The bill will curtail deceptive and unfair practices by credit card companies, including arbitrary rate increases, double-cycle billing, and over-limit fees for those who request a firm limit. You can read more about it, and find a quick-link to email your representatives here:

Consumer Action

[neatdesign]

Thanks for posting this. I completed the section to send a message to my representative -- and then I realized that it was going to my House representative, not my Senators. Since the bill is languishing in the Senate, this message really needs to go to them.

You can find your Senators' contact information here:
U.S. Senate: Senators Home

~ Jenney

[neatdesign]

Just to follow up...

I took the wording provided by the link provided by KSLuis62 and sent it to my two senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb:

Subject: Please help pass the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act

HR 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act, would protect consumers like me by curbing unfair and abusive practices by credit card companies, including double-cycle billing, unfair rate hikes, and unreasonable late fees.

I know that the Federal Reserve has passed some credit card protections that won't go into effect until July 2010. Please pass HR 627, which would bring much needed protections to consumers only 3 months after its passage.

Cardholders deserve protections against arbitrary interest rate increases.

Cardholders who pay on time should not be penalized.

Cardholders should be protected from hair-trigger late fees charged when they are just hours late with a payment.

Card companies should not impose excessive fees on cardholders.

Congress should provide better oversight of the credit card industry.

With more families being forced to use credit cards just to make ends meet between paychecks, it's critical that Congress act now to protect consumers from these predatory practices.

Please make sure consumers are being protected by supporting or co-sponsoring HR 627, or the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights.

Yours sincerely,
(my full name)

[ksluis62]

Neatdesign, thanks for posting the message to your Senator! I think that's helpful, providing a template for others who might want to do the same.

Please, everybody, this only takes a few minutes, and your support of this bill will help millions of consumers using credit cards. There are provisions of this bill that help those who pay in full every month, as well, like assurances that your payment is applied in a timely fashion.

It was my understanding that the bill has to pass the House once again before going to the Senate. I could be wrong here, though. Anybody know for sure? It would be safest to email your support to your congressional rep as well as your 2 Senators.

Here's the note I sent to my Senator last fall, as a second example that people can reuse. It address one additional pet peave of mine, the advertised teaser interest rate:

Hi Senator Salazar,

I would like to express my support for the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights, passed recently by the house. I believe the credit card issuers have escalated their deceptive practices dramatically over the last few years, and we need to reign them in. At a time when we're spending so much keeping these companies in business, we should also do things to help the general public, and I believe this bill is a very good start.

I would ask you to consider one addition to this bill. I consistently get 0% balance transfer offers in the mail, only to find in the small print that there is a 3% balance transfer fee. For a 6 month offer, this equates to a 6% effective APR, and much higher if someone is late on a payment. Shouldn't we force issuers to prominently display the effective APR, as we do for mortgage advertisers? This is a basic truth in advertising principle, and will help people understand these deals really aren't too good to pass up.

I respectfully ask for your support on this bill.