Quote of the Day
…Sometimes, it’s not good to know how the sausage is made.
But credit card and bank rules are too important to leave to the sausage makers, and fortunately, all comments made so far are available for public inspection. They are worth at least a casual browse.
Article here.
Federal Reserve proposed changes:
The provisions addressing credit card practices are part of the Board’s ongoing effort to enhance protections for consumers who use credit cards, and follow the Board’s 2007 proposal to improve the credit card disclosures under the Truth in Lending Act. The FTC Act proposal includes five key protections for consumers that use credit cards:
* Banks would be prohibited from increasing the rate on a pre-existing credit card balance (except under limited circumstances) and must allow the consumer to pay off that balance over a reasonable period of time.
* Banks would be prohibited from applying payments in excess of the minimum in a manner that maximizes interest charges.
* Banks would be required to give consumers the full benefit of discounted promotional rates on credit cards by applying payments in excess of the minimum to any higher-rate balances first, and by providing a grace period for purchases where the consumer is otherwise eligible.
* Banks would be prohibited from imposing interest charges using the “two-cycle” method, which computes interest on balances on days in billing cycles preceding the most recent billing cycle.
* Banks would be required to provide consumers a reasonable amount of time to make payments.
A chance to rage against the machine?
Priceless.
You can let the Federal Reserve know how you feel here (use the “Submit Comment” links at the bottom of the page).
Biz | tree hugging sister | 
July 22, 2008 2:15 pm
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I don’t follow this enough to know whether these are good suggestions or bad ones. I think it’s a much better idea to not have credit card debt so all this is pretty much moot to me.
That we could all be you, Skyler.
Oh, I didn’t mean that I am succeeding in that plan recently. After getting caught in the massive layoffs in Austin a few years ago and now being in school again, I haven’t quite fully recovered. But I will.
What I’m trying inartfully to say is, I don’t know whether you are saying what our comments should be. Are these proposals good things or do they not go far enough or are they just too much for those poor banks to put up with?