Connecticut Attorney General Asks FED to Roll Back Credit Card Interest Rates
January 5, 2010 - Connecticut's Attorney General, Eric Blumenthal, has sent a letter to FED Chairman Ben Bernanke. He's asking Bernanke to use the authority granted him in the Credit Card Act (CARD) of 2009 to roll back interest rates on credit cards to the same level they were at in January, 2009.
Blumenthal said that his office had received a letter from the American Bankers Association in which the organization admitted that banks were imposing massive fee hikes on low risk consumers prior to implementation of the Credit Card Act. The new law goes into effect on February 22nd. Blumenthal wants the FED to force banks to roll back rates and fees to levels that were in effect before Congress voted on the law.
In his letter to Bernanke, Blumenthal wrote, "The banks are compelling creditworthy consumers to rescue them twice--once through taxpayer- funded bailouts and a second time through exorbitant credit card interest rates and fees."
If the FED was to grant Blumenthal's request, bank fees and interest rates would be strictly limited. Under CARD, banks can not raise interest rates on existing credit card balances except under very limited circumstances. Rolling back rates to the same levels they were at a year ago would significantly limit the income that banks would receive going forward.
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