Friday, April 24, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Thursday he is determined to get a credit-card law that eliminates the tricky fine print, sudden rate increases and late fees that give millions of consumers headaches.
“I trust that those in the industry who want to act responsibly will engage with us in a constructive fashion, and that we’re going to get this done in short order,” Obama said, delivering a pointed message to leading executives of credit-card issuing companies after a closed-door White House meeting.
Both the House and the Senate are pursuing bills to give consumers greater protections as an expansion of new rules slated to take effect next year. Obama said his economic advisers will examine the various proposals and work with Congress and the industry, but he made clear he wants to sign a bill into law.
“The days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end,” Obama said.
At issue is how to protect consumers, particularly in a deep recession, while not imposing the kind of rules that could make it harder for banks to offer credit or put credit out of reach for many borrowers.
Industry executives left the White House without talking to reporters.
Later, one of the participants, American Bankers Association president Edward Yingling, said the executives listened to Obama’s concerns and “agreed to work with the administration to address them.” In a statement on behalf of the executives, he said consumer protection must be balanced with “ensuring that credit remains available to consumers and small businesses at a reasonable cost.”
The credit-card executives made the case in the meeting that the sweeping rules already ordered by the Federal Reserve, due to take effect next year, address many of the concerns of the president and Congress.