Holder’s Bill
Card Holder’s Bill of Rights Passes House Vote
Reacting to the massive outcry from credit card holders across the country, The House of Representatives passed The Card Holder’s Bill of Rights which prohibits the types of sudden interest rate hikes and exorbitant fees commonly charged by credit card companies. The bill passed in a landslide bipartisan vote of 357 to 70 attributed to both public outcry and The Obama Administration’s intensive lobbying which was promised during the presidential campaign.
The bill comes at a time when the total amount of credit card debt in the U.S. has increased by 25% over the last ten years with most of that increase coming in the last few years. As of January 2009, the total amount of credit card debt stood at just under one trillion dollars with an average of $10,679 in consumer debt for each household with a credit card. These numbers are expected to grow because, for many struggling consumers, their credit cards have been the only way source of funds in the face of job losses and the tightened credit markets. Als