Obama urges Congress to act on Credit Card bill

[The Hope Mobile]

Source: AP and yahoo news


By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer – 23 mins ago

RIO RANCHO, N.M. – President Barack Obama urged Congress on Thursday to quickly send him legislation ending abusive credit card practices. But his populist appeal also included a stern warning to shoppers whose eyes are bigger than their budgets.

"There's no doubt that people need to accept responsibility," Obama said at a town hall-style appearance at a high school here. "This is not free money — it's debt and you should not take on more than you can handle."

Obama's event began with a testimonial from a woman who said she had been mistreated by her credit card company when her interest rate inexplicably and suddenly shot up to 30 percent. Obama's audience also included several dozen other people who have expressed frustrations in letters and e-mails to the president about their credit card companies.

He asked for accountability from individual citizens who often buy far more than they can afford.

"Banks are businesses too. So they have a right to insist that timely payments are made," Obama said.

Still, his main purpose in appearing here was to lobby Congress from afar to make it harder for credit card companies to hike interest rates precipitously, charge unfair late fees, or impose other impossible conditions on consumers.

"Those days are over," he said.

"This is America and we don't begrudge a company's success when that success is based on honest dealings with consumers," Obama said. "We need reform to restore some sense of balance."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_credit_cards;_ylt=At2fFRYy788Vuq9X6WbL8bzZn414

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That's what aaaaaaaaaaaaaahmmmmmmmmmm talkinbout! I was livid yesterday about dem senators who voted this down. Inexcusable!

[saigon68]

1. Senate Too Busy deciding to Tax Sugar Soda Pop

[The Hope Mobile]

2. This failed in senate yesterday with only 33 voting to put caps on interest rates

The credit card cos were SO SURE that dems would cap the rates at 15% that they scrambled to crank up their rates and fees in the days leading up to this many as high as 30%. And BAM! The dems blew it bad!!! Its a crime!! Damn straight Obama better push this HARD!!!

[mbperrin]

4. And trying to find ways to avoid finding out about torture.

oh well....

[DJ13]

3. "Hurry, before the people realize its not as good as it seems!"

[Imalittleteapot]

5. Exactly. Without

interest caps the bill does not go far enough.

[Robbien]

6. Without interest caps, the bill is toothless and is only a PR tool

Which is how Obama right now is using it. He is chastising people for being bad buyers who charge too much and telling them they had better pay the banks.

And oh yeah he is telling these bad shoppers he is urging Congress to pass a bill which is supposed to help them but what he does not tell them that the reality is the bill is just a propaganda tool which gives lip service to protecting people from predatory banks.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. The Catholic Church has historically taught that oppression of the poor is

a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance. Obama needs to get a grip.

Homelessness is an outrage in a developed Western society and such extortion by the banks which drives families out onto the streets is an egregious example of precisely that.

And they need to be capped very low these days. Use of ATMs here in the UK is free here in some places, unless you are using a credit card. That too is an outrage.

I remember in the fities, older folk saying they'd never buy anything on hire-purchase - some of you will remember HP. I think it was petty convenient at the time; others wouldn't use a bank. Sounds pretty smart thinking these days, if you can do it.

[merwin]

15. I don't mind cash ATM advance fees on credit cards.

There should never be a fee for withdrawing cash using a debit card, but when you're dealing with a credit line, I think a reasonable fee is fair. Certainly not the fees they charge for them currently, but a reasonable one.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. But surely a person using a debit card is in a better position to pay

than a person using a credit card. It's the old "punishing the poor for being poor" thing.

There was a bit of a fuss in the M$M here, in the UK, a while back, because a bank chief laughed aloud at the thought that he'd possess a credit card. And I'm not surprised. Even I'm savvy enough now to understand that, unless a well-off person had the pusillanmous patience to surf credit cards to avoid paying any interest, he/she would be mad to use a credit card.

As a matter of fact, I'd be very, very glad if they were abolished all together, and the banks obliged to employ more bank tellers.

[merwin]

18. A line of credit that a bank is extending to you is far different than cold hard cash

that you have deposited in your account. As such, it's the bank's money that you're borrowing and should be subject to reasonable fees and interest.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. But they pay a high rate of interest on the loan already. That already. This is yet another charge.

Why am I having to explain this to you?

[eilen]

19. When I was growing up poor

my parents could not get a credit card if they wanted to. Maybe they are giving too many lines of credit out to people who really can't afford them? The only thing we purchased on time was furniture from a local store, and that happened once.

I think the banks carry some responsibility in this and they should not be allowed to practice what is essentially economic terrorism (a racket previously enjoyed by organized crime before drugs) legally on people.

[The Hope Mobile]

8. From my understanding that's the entire point of the bill that was

defeated yesterday . . . to put caps on at 15% instead of these criminal 30% rates. Do you know something I don't about this?

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. 15% is still extortionate. But it reflects a whole lot better on Obama, from we all

hope for great things.

[MercutioATC]

10. 15% is unreasonable on an unsecured line of credit?

I strongly disagree.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. It happens.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. I'm fairly sure you see such transactions simply in terms of corporate profit. Some countries -

not, alas, the UK - see the banks as providers of a service to the public and businesses, large and small.

To what giddy heights has the narrowest focus on the "bottom line" brought your banks, pray? A reliance on cheap foreign labour, further polarising the wealth in your country, while eliminating the possibility of income tax, which your own countrymen would have provided. And finally the ultimate disgrace of our Anglo-American capitalism: bankruptcy and tax-payer bail-outs. Nothing describes this "ethos" more succinctly than "knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing."

This moral bankruptcy has led to an obscene inhuman aggrandisement of the large corporation, at the expense of the public, and in terms of effectiveness, at the expense of synergies created by a political and business ethos based on some kind of social democracy.

[Mari333]

11. OH

"There's no doubt that people need to accept responsibility," Obama said at a town hall-style appearance at a high school here. "This is not free money — it's debt and you should not take on more than you can handle."

gosh, if only he could say this to the bankers, corporations, and CEOs.

[The Hope Mobile]

13. Spot on! nt

[Bryn]

17. Perfect!

[saigon68]

20. Not going to happen

New BOSS same as old BOSS

[deacon]

21. Obama is losing credibility at breakneck speed. Playing two ends against the middle is way too

transparent. He's the leader? Deal with it. Deal with the lawbreaking and the torture issues. If not, Shaddup.