Unfair rates, fees, and policies have cost consumers billions of dollars.
To prevent being suckered by the hucksters and loan sharks, we want just five basic reforms so that everyone, young and old, has a chance to get a fair credit card. The Credit Card Reform Act (effective February 22, 2010) fixes none of the ethical faults that our reforms address.
The reforms we are pushing are easy to understand and easy to remember since each deals with one major component of the credit card transaction: the card, contract, rate, receipt, and statement.
1. Print the interest rate on each card.
Interest is part of the price in credit card transactions and card holders . . . read more . . .
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2.Limit contracts to standardized one page agreements.
Card company lawyers may understand their tiny print contracts, but basic . . read more . .
3. Cap all credit card interest rates at 15%. Bring back tough usury laws.
Usury has been despised since Biblical times, but today card company . . . read more. . .
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4.Show transaction fees on sales receipts. Ethically, cash buyers should pay 2% less.
Cash buyers are forced to subsidize the card sharks because transaction . . read more . . .
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5.Require online calculators so consumers can easily check statements for accuracy.
Technology now makes available a cheap and simple method of . . . read more . .