Senator Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, reintroduced the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act into the U.S. Senate this week.  Although some of the provisions are similar to the Federal Reserve regulations which will be implemented in July 2010, there are additional provisions in the bill as currently drafted which make it [...]

The Wall Street Journal has just reported that a provision allowing corporations to defer taxes when they buyback their debt at a discount from their bond holders / creditors will remain in the economic stimulus package.  While I support the provision, I find it unfortunate that Congress has not extended the proposal to consumers who [...]

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights was reintroduced into Congress today.  It will be interesting to see how the bill develops, since it was already passed by the House of Representatives last year (it did not pass the Senate), and the Federal Reserve will enforce regulations in 2010 that mimic many of the provisions of [...]

One of the commonly accepted contributing factors of the Great Depression in the 1930s was the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, which increased taxes on goods imported into the United States.  After retaliation by foreign governments, trade between countries shrunk dramatically. After a few days to think about what the Federal Reserve has done, I’m wondering if [...]

Well, it looks like today is the day that a few senators have finally said that bailout nation has gone too far with its proposal to bailout the United States automakers.  In my opinion, it’s unfortunate that the government was negotiating among themselves how quickly they could lower the salary of well paid American workers.  [...]

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney moved out of the House Financial Services Committee on Friday by a vote of 39 to 27.  It will now be brought up for a vote in the full House.
Read More:

Washington Post - Credit Card Bill Passes One Hurdle
Reuters - House Panel Backs Curbs [...]

One way to know that the odds of credit card reform are pretty good is to check out the title of a recent New York Times article: Credit Card Overhauls Seem Likely.
The article, which sums up the pressures on legislators and regulators for reform on the credit card industry, asks another important question for consumers: [...]

Here’s an editorial published in the Houston Chronicle from Congressional supporters of credit card reform legislation titled Give Consumers Tools to Combat Credit Card Giants.

Congress held hearings last week examining marketing practices of credit card companies to college students in conjunction with its consideration of credit card reform.  Here are a few of the articles from the past week covering the issue:

Taking Charge - Student Credit Card Issuers Under Investigation.

Washington Post - Too Young to Handle Credit?

Center for American [...]

An Orlando Sentinel article tells consumers not to hold their breath for credit card reform from either the Federal Reserve or from Congress.  It’s an election year and the credit card industry is putting strong pressure on Congress and the Federal Reserve to weaken reforms.