Call for Credit Card Reform ... Right Now

While there might not be much you and I can do to fix the mess on Wall Street or with subprime mortgages, we have a really good shot at putting an end to abusive credit card practices. In exchange, we'd get to keep more of our hard-earned money, and there would be clearer, fairer rules or everyone.

The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights is ready for a floor vote in the House of Representatives, having made its way through the Financial Services Committee with what Consumer Action calls “a tough vote.”

The full House may vote on this bill, aka H.R. 5244, as early as next week. It would:

• Ban credit card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances, unless your payment is 30 days late. 
• Save us money by requiring that payments be proportionally distributed between high and low rate balances, ending the industry practice of first crediting payments to the lowest rate balances.
• Let cardholders set fixed credit limits and avoid over the limit fees.
• End “bait and switch” contract clauses that let companies raise fees and rates “at any time, for any reason.”

Your Call Can Make a Difference
If you’d like to see fairer credit card practices like these put into effect, Consumer Action urges you to:

“Please CALL your representatives today to ask them to vote FOR the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights (HR 5244) -- without any amendments that would stall or weaken the bill.”

Surprise, surprise. Credit card issuers are not in favor of this legislation and are lobbying against it. Their first choice might be to prevent the bill from being voted on at all. If that doesn’t work, their focus will be on weakening its provisions.So when I called my Congressman, I asked him to please support the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights exactly "as is," so we can help Americans avoid falling even deeper into debt.

Hope you’ll do likewise -- and get your friends and relations to call, too! Consumer Action makes it really easy to get the phone number for your legislator. All you have to do is click here and type in your zip code. It took me less than a minute, and I feel better for having made the call. You probably will, too. Please let us know.

We can't afford to let Congress or the industry off the hook. Forgive the pun and make the call! 

Nancy Castleman – Co-author of "Invest in Yourself: Six Secrets to a Rich Life" and founder of Good Advice Press. Nancy has spent the last 24 years teaching people how to get out of debt, save money, and live better on less. She writes on all these subjects for CreditBloggers.com.