LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe-Document

LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic

March 30, 1999, Tuesday, CITY EDITION

SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE, Pg. 2B

LENGTH: 395 words

HEADLINE: CREDIT-CARD DISCLOSURE

BODY:

A consumer-protection bill being pushed by Rep. John LaFalce to make credit-card companies disclose more of their fees up front sounds so much like motherhood and apple pie that you wonder who could be against it.

This will be a good time to find out.

Will it be Congress' Republican majority, which is always talking about standing up for the little guy -- until the little guy confronts big business? Or will it be bankers who, while muted so far in responding to this bill, argue on principle that competition in a "vibrant" credit-card market is enough to give consumers all of the options and protections they need? That argument, of course, ignores public complaints and the fact that consumers can't put competition to work if they don't know up front what surprise interest rates or hidden charges will show up on their monthly bill.

LaFalce's Consumer Credit Card Protection Amendments of 1999 would eliminate those surprises. In fact, it might just as easily be called the credit-card honesty and integrity bill.

Among other things, it would make credit-card bills disclose the total cost if a person pays only the minimum each month -- an eye-opening figure few might be aware of when succumbing to the temptation to pay as little as possible.

The bill also would make cards clearly show the late-payment fee, the date that an introductory or "teaser" interest rate expires, and what the rate will be after that. It also would let consumers who cancel cards in the face of a rate increase pay off the outstanding debt at the old interest rate.

Without seeing the specifics of the LaFalce bill, a banking industry spokesman called most such provisions redundant. But if banks are already doing such things, they shouldn't object to a bill that will crack down on the ones that aren't.

In fact, there's no good argument against such provisions.

Still, there's no guarantee the bill, standing alone, will ever see the light of day in a GOP-controlled Congress with a philosophical aversion to regulation and a campaign-finance affinity for bankers.

Sen. Charles Schumer will try to get the provisions included in a comprehensive bankruptcy-reform bill left over from last session. Even that might be hard. But at least it will provide a barometer of just where the consumer stands in this Congress' hierarchy of those it wants to help.

LOAD-DATE: April 1, 1999