August 21, 2009
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CARDA's Immediate Effect on CC Consumers, Pt.1
The background:Thursday (8/20/09), was a major flag raising for the credit card consumer world. This marked the first time the mighty capitalist credit card giants were challenged directly by consumers united. It's so very rare in this country for the majority to demand and get any rights because of a few loud-mouthed extremists who steal the show while good people stand around and do nothing. So, the initial engagement of CCARDA (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act), so hard-fought for by Senator Dobbs and a few valiant others marks a very rare occasion for democracy in the US. For once, money and the lobbyists didn't dictate the fate of the majority of our country.
On Thursday, the first Congressional regulations officially went into effect and dictated some rules of fairness to the credit card industry. The backdrop setting was an unregulated industry, only governed by consumer response. In the credit card industry (like most all capitalist industries), it was learned that consumer response could be wagged (like a tail wagging the dog) and played like a fiddle (fine-tuned to achieve illusionary levels). Short-lived cheap tricks would be forgiven. Targeting vulnerable segments could go largely unnoticed from the national spotlight. Rogue unscrupulous players like Citi-Financial, Wells-Fargo and HSBC could ride on the good reputations of their peers and slam innocent vulnerables with hidden undoable fees and deliberately short-timed statements that would cause consumer payments to be late on a regular basis. This Machiavellian approach worked well for a time. Finally, public outcry did reach national attention.
Between 2007 and 2009, literally tens-of-thousands of credit card abuse complaints were lodged against these practices and, finally, arrived at the right place -- Congress. Still, it took Senator Dodd and the many other responsible congressional leaders years to get something done about it. Just like with healthcare reform, the lobbyists had bribed Washington to dilute the effort into meaningless lip service by assigning the matter to a powerless Treasury agency. Congress finally took the bull by the horn and forced effective change through. For the story, please see: "Chances of Success for Sen. Dodd's New Bill.."