Consumers Union Reaches Out

Minerva Novoa,Internet Advocacy Coordinator

The big banks got billions of our tax dollars to rescue them from their own financial mess. Now, they turn around and hit us with higher interest rates and fees on our credit cards. When are consumers going to stop getting the short end in this bailout? Chase, Citibank, HSBC, Capitol One and others recently hiked interest rates with the average card rate now about 14%. Meanwhile, the banks are paying as little as 0% for overnight loans. Unbelievable.Federal agencies passed a rule cracking down on abusive credit card rate hikes, but it won’t go into effect until mid-2010. That gives banks more than a year to try and make up for their bad bets by charging you more. Tell Congress to pass credit card reform right now -- we can’t wait another year.