PHILADELPHIA — Police say a Philadelphia man is charged with murder after allegedly shooting a neighbor in a dispute over dog waste.WASHINGTON – Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., happily acknowledges he’s a “free-enterprise person,” but he’s been one of the most vocal supporters of legislation to tighten rules on credit card companies.
The Senate voted 90-5 Tuesday to adopt legislation Bayh said will protect consumers from “abusive practices.” Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., voted “yes,” as did Ohio Republican George Voinovich and Democrat Sherrod Brown.
“I believe in the right of companies to make a profit, and credit card companies are no exception,” Bayh told the Senate. “But they ought to make it the legitimate, old-fashioned way, not on the backs of consumers through abusive practices.”
The bill bars credit card companies from raising interest rates until a consumer is at least 60 days late in making a payment. Even then, the credit card company would be required to restore the previous, lower rate after six months if the consumer pays the minimum balance on time.
Bayh said the credit card companies’ policies are particularly painful “during these difficult times when many middle-class families who have had economic reverses” rely on their credit cards to pay for basic living expenses.
The House adopted a similar bill last month with Reps. Mark Souder, R-3rd, and Dan Burton, R-5th, voting “yes.” Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th, did not vote, while Ohio Rep. Bob Latta, R-5th, voted “no.” The White House also backs the legislation.
Under the legislation, the credit card industry would be required within nine months to change the way it does business: Lenders would have to post their credit card agreements on the Internet, let customers pay their bills online or by phone for free, and give customers 45 days’ notice and an explanation before interest rates are increased.
The banking industry has warned lawmakers that the legislation would restrict credit at a time when Americans need it most. They defend their business practices as necessary to protect themselves when providing money to consumers with no collateral and little more than a promise to pay it back.
Bayh said people caught in the credit card companies’ practices “are decent hard-working people who ask nothing more than for a fair shake in life and, too often, they are not getting it because of these abusive practices.”
Bayh said he has received many complaints from Hoosiers, including a woman who had an $8,000 balance on a credit card account she had closed.
“She was not buying anything. She had always paid her bill on time. And out of the blue one day,” Bayh said, “her credit card company doubled her minimum payment. She is a woman of modest means, and she could not make the higher payment. She called the bank, and they would not work with her, even though she had never missed a payment or been late, not once.
“Soon the credit company started adding late fees and compounding her interest. Over the course of two years, her balance tripled from $8,000 to $24,000, without (her) making a single purchase. She had bought nothing. She had done nothing wrong. And she is getting gouged like this. This is the kind of thing that has to stop.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
