Obama Wants Credit Card Relief Bill by Memorial Day

(NEWSER) - The House today approved legislation to protect credit card holders from hidden fees and sudden rate hikes, Reuters reports. Legislators voted overwhelmingly for the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, a measure banks complain will tighten the amount of credit available and make holding a card more expensive. The Senate is expected to pass its own version next, and President Obama hopes to sign the bill in May. More»

(NEWSER) - As many Citigroup customers are already painfully aware, the lender has drastically increased rates on some 15 million credit card accounts, the Financial Times reports. Holders of Citi cards co-branded with retailers such as Sears saw their interest rates climb by as much as 24%—or 3 percentage points—between January and April if they failed to pay off their full balance each month. More»

Law dials back crucial fees, interest rates

(NEWSER) - A law President Obama is expected to sign today bringing new consumer-friendly rules on credit cards could cost the industry $10 billion in revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports. The legislation, which dials back various fees and interest rates, will devastate companies that target consumers with checkered credit histories and issuers reliant on specialty cards for retailers, experts say. More»

Falls to an average of $4,951

(NEWSER) - The average American’s credit card debt hit an 8-year low in the second quarter of the year—even as rates hit a 9-year high . The average combined credit card debt fell to $4,951, down 13% from $5,719 over the same stretch last year, according to figures from the TransUnion credit reporting agency. The average hasn’t been below $5,000 since the first quarter of 2002, the AP reports. More»

Credit scores sink to new lows

(NEWSER) - Thanks to the Great Recession, the credit scores of millions more Americans have sunk to new lows. New figures show that an astounding 1 in 4 households are now in the lowest credit category, boosting the number of those considered poor lending risks to 43 million. Even more consumers are expected to fall into this category in the coming months. More»