Consumer Law

Federal Reserve Proposing New Protections for Credit Card Consumers

By Brian Wolfman

The top story in the Washington Post this morning is this story entitled "Fed to Pursue Aggressive Checks on Credit Cards." The Federal Reserve, along with the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, will issue proposed regulations today that seek to put a halt to certain credit card practices. This excerpt from the Post story provides an overview:

The proposed regulations, which could be finalized by year's end, would label as "unfair or deceptive" practices that consumers have long complained about. That includes charging interest on debt that has been repaid and assessing late fees when consumers are not given a reasonable amount of time to make a payment. When different interest rates apply to different balances on one card, companies would be prohibited from applying a payment first to the balance with the lowest rate.

We will post the proposal itself when it becomes available.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on May 02, 2008 (boomark / email).