(May 2, 2008) Representatives
of national consumer organizations today applauded federal banking
regulators for proposing initial rules to curb some abusive credit card
lending practices. The groups also called on Congress to provide
additional consumer protections not proposed by the regulators. The
proposal was offered today by the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of
Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration. Among
other things, the regulators could stop many unjustified interest rate
hikes on existing balances, prohibit the charging of interest on debt
already paid off and require issuers to allocate cardholder payments
more fairly. Read more (PDF).