President Obama is throwing his support behind major credit card reform, and the House just overwhelmingly passed its bill by a vote of 357 to 70!
But the Senate is bitterly divided. Your Senators must hear from you right now. Tell them to stand up for constituents, not the big banks!
After taking billions in taxpayer bailouts, the banks turned on their own customers. They hiked interest rates on millions of consumers' credit cards – including those who pay on time. Bank of America just socked good customers with double-digit interest rates for no reason!
The Senate may vote this week on its bill to curb these random rate hikes and fees. But the bank lobby is swarming Washington, claiming if they can't randomly hike your interest rate, consumers will suffer.
You know better. These random interest rate hikes are busting families' budgets and driving more Americans into debt. Tell your Senator the real story! Credit card reform will help our economy, and make banks play by fair and sensible rules.
Subject: Pass S. 414 now, with earliest effective date
Dear [Decision Maker],
As your constituent, I urge you to pass S. 414, the Credit CARD Act, without any weakening amendments and with the earliest possible effective date. Several major banks just hiked interest rates and fees on millions of our credit cards, including good customers who pay on time each month. These abuses tactics must stop -- they are bad for me, and bad for our economy.
[Your personal comments will be added here.]
Responsible credit card consumers shouldn't be subjected to out-of-nowhere interest rate increases and fees. But the card companies are arbitrarily hiking interest rates on our existing balances -- even those who make payments on time -- just because of an "anytime/any reason" clause in the contract. S. 414 would prevent my card company from changing the rules of the game midstream, and give me the deal I signed up for.
The bill also would require card companies to apply my payments more fairly across my different balances, not just to the lowest-interest balance. And S. 414 would curb the aggressive marketing of credit cards to those younger than 21. That's just common sense.
The banks are claiming that if they can't do whatever they want to their own customers, our economy and consumers will suffer. The reality is, these abusive practices are damaging not only my finances, but our nation's economic recovery. The more I pay in higher interest rates and fees, the less I have in my pocket to spend on mine, and my family's needs, and contribute to our economic recovery.
The banks already received billions in taxpayer bailouts, and they can borrow money for next to nothing. Now they're driving Americans deeper into debt by piling on interest rate hikes and new fees. I urge you to give Americans real financial help, and pass S. 414 without any weakening amendments, and to implement the reforms as soon as possible.
