Pew Commends the Federal Reserve's Latest Rules on the Credit CARD Act of 2009

Washington, D.C. — Nick Bourke, project manager for the Pew Safe Credit Cards Project, today issued the following statement in response to the latest rules under the Credit CARD Act of 2009.

“We applaud the Federal Reserve for protecting the American consumer by issuing a strong set of rules that will stop many unsafe credit card practices and improve the transparency of credit card products.

“Multiple reports from the Pew Safe Credit Cards Project have highlighted the widespread use of ‘unfair or deceptive' practices by the credit card industry. For example, our research showed that a growing number of issuers were controlling variable index rates by setting fixed minimums, which conflicts with the Act. The Federal Reserve's actions will stop this and other potentially abusive credit card trends.

“The Federal Reserve has yet to issue its regulations on credit card penalty fees and interest rates, which will take effect this August. As they prepare the next set of rules, we have urged the Federal Reserve to take the additional steps needed to fulfill the goals of the Credit CARD Act, including protecting consumers from excessive or ‘hair-trigger' penalties.”