It’s only fair. The federal government is doing everything it can to restore the nation’s banks to health. In return, Congress should require those banks to give their credit card customers a better break.
As the credit card business boomed in recent years, too many lenders added tricks and traps that have entrapped and enraged millions of their customers. Interest rates spike even when a consumer meticulously(小心翼翼地) pays on time. Fees appear out of nowhere; banks can change their complicated rules at any time or for any reason.
Responding to thousands of complaints, the Federal Reserve Board issued new rules last December to help stop unfair and deceptive practices. But those protections will not take effect until July of next year. Congress now has an opportunity to move far more swiftly.
Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Senate banking committee, has offered a credit card hill that deserves the support of his colleagues. It is stronger than the Fed’s regulations and would provide consumers relief more quickly than the credit card bill now moving through the House.
The Dodd bill would help end "bait (诱饵) and switch" tactics like promising a very low interest rate then adding hidden fees and other charges. It would make credit card contracts, which tend to favor the banks, less one-sided. It would help protect younger customers who are more easily tricked into burdensome debt.
And it would provide stronger protection against abusive practices — charging very high fees, for instance, for minor mistakes like being hours late paying the bill.
Mr. Dodd says it has taken a while for him to gather support for the bill, and last week the banking committee approved it by only one vote. Republicans and bankers who oppose the bill had argued, and continue to argue, that no law is needed because the federal regulations are tough enough.
Mr. Dodd, who has faced criticism for his role in bailout(紧急救助) legislation that allowed executive bonuses, could help himself by holding firm on his credit card bill. The Federal Reserve regulations are useful, but consumers should not have to wait for real help until 2010.
The credit card bill offered by Senator Christopher Dodd will ______.