[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 71 (Monday, May 11, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5304-S5305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CREDIT CARD REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when I was just a boy--as I look back, I 
really don't know how old I was, probably 10, maybe 11--one of my older 
brothers, 10 years older--a wonderful man; he died at age 47; he was a 
young man, not long out of high school--worked for the Standard station 
in Ash Fork, AZ, which was quite a ways from Searchlight. I had never 
really been anyplace. My brother, being the great big brother he was, 
wanted me to see someplace other than Searchlight. So I went and spent 
a couple weeks with him in Ash Fork, AZ. For me, it was a real eye-
opening thing. I had never really traveled anyplace. He drove us over 
there.
  The one thing he didn't bother to tell me is that he had a 
girlfriend, and so he spent a lot of time when he was not working with 
his girlfriend. He still kept an eye on me and took good care of me, 
but I spent most of my time with his girlfriend's brother. His 
girlfriend's brother was older than I was. We would play games. There 
wasn't much he could do better than me. But I rarely won anything 
because he kept changing the rules in the middle of the game. I have 
always remembered that. It is hard to win a game when the rules keep 
changing.
  The reason I mention that little personal vignette is, what do you do 
when you play by the rules but the rules change in the middle of the 
game? There is a woman in Nevada named Shelley. Like millions of 
Americans, she pays her credit card bill in full every month. She has 
never been late. Whatever they say is the minimum payment, she at least 
makes that payment and sometimes more. She is the model of what credit 
card companies call ``in good standing.''
  But Shelley recently was told that the interest rate on her card was 
going up from 9.5 percent to 17.5 percent; her rate was almost 
doubling. For reasons unknown to her, she could not understand this. So 
Shelley asked to close the account. But the bank told her the time to 
opt out of her contract had ended before she even knew it had started.
  She played by the rules, Shelley did. But the rules changed in the 
middle of the game.
  If we are truly to get our economy back on its feet, we must protect 
people like Shelley and the millions of Americans who use credit cards 
for everything from buying a sandwich to paying for college. Chairman 
Dodd and ranking member Shelby have drafted a bill that puts fairness 
and common sense back into credit cards and protects consumers from 
excessive fees, ever-changing interest rates, and complex contracts 
seemingly designed to do one thing above all--to keep people in the 
dark and in debt.
  In short, this bill we will be taking up this afternoon at 3:30 
cleans up the fine print so consumers can't get blindsided by the 
credit card companies.
  More and more Americans sign for and use credit cards every day. 
Three out of five credit card users carry a balance on their card. 
There is nothing wrong with that. That balance averages more than 
$7,000. That is what the average is. But they are using credit cards 
that have misleading terms and confusing conditions.
  A recent study by the Pew Trust Foundation found that 100 percent of 
credit cards came with policies that the Federal Reserve has determined 
cause harm to consumers--not 50 percent, not 60 percent, not 75 
percent, 100 percent. And 93 percent of those contracts said the credit 
card company could raise the interest rate anytime for any reason. Here 
are just a few of the things the legislation that will soon be before 
the Senate does to fix that.

  First, it protects consumers by establishing fair and sensible rules 
for how and when credit card companies can raise interest rates. Credit 
card companies must give a 45-day notice before increasing rates and 
can no longer do so on existing balances.
  Second, it cracks down on abusive fees. For example, consumers no 
longer will have to pay a fee just to pay a bill. That happens. And 
credit card companies must mail statements 21 days before the bill is 
due so cardholders can avoid these hefty late charges.
  Third, it protects young consumers such as college students from 
predatory marketers.
  It strengthens oversight of the credit card industry to keep it in 
line.
  For every greedy executive and devious con artist, there are millions 
of honest, hardworking Americans who struggle every day to simply make 
ends meet. They worry every morning about how much longer their job 
will be there and every night about how to keep their families healthy 
and keep a roof over their heads. They worry about troubles they did 
not create; and even though they are stunned about these troubles they 
did not create, they cannot cure them.
  Too many hardworking Americans have already lost too much in this 
recession. It is our job to protect them from losing even more.
  This legislation will not only level the playing field and keep the 
rules consistent from beginning to end, it can also save families 
thousands of dollars a year.
  Shelley, the woman I told the story about--the Nevada woman who told 
me about her frustrations with her credit card company, wrote:
  I feel like I am being robbed by a company that my tax dollars are 
trying to bail out.
  Mr. President, I do not remember much from my trip to Ash Fork, AZ, 
other than my brother's future brother-in-law kept changing the rules 
in the middle of the game. That is what the credit card companies are 
doing, and that is what we have to stop. We must protect those who play 
by the rules because it is not just their credit at stake, it is our 
country's credibility. I think at this stage, it is the Senate's 
credibility. The bill that passed the

[[Page S5305]]

House arrived over here with 377 votes. This is a bipartisan bill. It 
is something we need to do. We need to do it as quickly as possible.

                          ____________________