Today — the first day that many of the key provisions of the Credit CARD Act go into effect — Representative Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee, issued a press release in which he claims the Act is working and credit card holders are reaping the benefits. In support of the claim, Rep. Frank links to a PDF of a couple of letters from credit card companies. Representative Frank’s press release is reproduced below:
Washington, DC – Today, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) released the following statement on the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, and commented on the following letters that credit card companies have been sending to their customers as a result of the new law’s implementation.
“These letters indicate that Americans are now seeing the benefits of the CARD Act. It was unfortunately the case that some banks tried to game the system after we passed the bill into law, but their actions provide further evidence of our need for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. While the House did pass a bill to speed up the implementation date of the CARD Act, there was an inevitable delay in the legislative process and Republican objections in the Senate blocked the bill. Had the CFPA been in existence we could have moved right away to block the banks’ egregious actions.”
In May, President Obama signed into law the Credit CARD Act, historic legislation that will protect consumers from deceptive credit card practices and equip them with the information and rights they need to responsibly manage their credit. Today, most of the key reforms are set to go in to effect, including prohibition of arbitrary interest rate increases and interest charges on debt paid on time (double-cycle billing ban).
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