Bipartisan legislation would quickly implement much-needed regulations
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today voted with a strong bipartisan majority in the House to support the Expedited Card Reform for Consumers Act of 2009, a bill aimed at protecting consumers from high interest rates.
“Consumers in Arizona and across the country have been hit hard by high interest rates,” said Giffords. “In these difficult economic times, it is unconscionable for credit card issuers to make matters worse by unfairly raising rates on consumers. This bill will help us quickly end this practice.”
The Expedited Card Reform for Consumers Act of 2009, H.R. 3639, passed the House of Representatives this afternoon in a 331-to-92 vote. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
The bill will move up the implementation date of the sweeping reforms called for in the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act. The reforms, which were to become effective in February 2010, included banning unfair rate increases, abusive fees and penalties.
Since the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act was signed into law by President Obama on May 22, many credit card companies have increased interest rates, imposed higher fees and lowered credit limits. According to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the 12 biggest credit card companies have raised the median annual rate by two percentage points or more between last December and July of this year.
The bill that was voted on today sets Dec. 1, 2009 as the new effective date. It keeps the original effective date for small credit card issuers with under 2 million cardholder accounts and for prepaid gift cards.
“There would be no need to move up the implementation date if the credit card industry had acted in good faith,” Giffords said. “They did not and this is why Congress had to act.”