Expedited Card Reform For Consumers Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Expedited Card Reform For Consumers Act Of 2009

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 3639, the Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act. I would like to thank Chairman FRANK and my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee for bringing us this consumer protection bill. I would also like to acknowledge and thank my friend from New York, Representative MALONEY, for introducing this legislation and her continued dedication to protecting consumers and ensuring the availability of credit.

Earlier this year in response to outrageous abuses of customers, both the Senate and the House passed H.R. 627, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act or the CARD Act. The reforms that we passed and were signed by the President were carefully designed with input from consumer advocacy groups and the financial services industry. We established an implementation date of February 22 to give the entire industry--and particularly credit unions and community banks--ample time to make the necessary adjustments to comply with the new regulations. This additional time was designed to ensure that these institutions, which have been on the side of their consumers, would be able to continue to offer credit cards.

Community Banks and Credit Unions were not responsible for the egregious consumer abuse that required the CARD Act, nor are they the reason that we must pass H.R. 3639 today. Rather, it was the larger institutions, many of whom are receiving public assistance, who took this grace period as an opportunity to double down on the very unconscionable behavior that prompted the action of this body. Their actions were made worse as they occurred in the context of a national recession, when many people found themselves resorting to credit to make ends meet, with salaries and work hours increasingly cut back.

Mr. Chair, my constituents are tired. They see the joblessness caused as the house of cards built by Wall Street collapsed on to Main Street. They have grown impatient with an industry that required unprecedented taxpayer assistance, only to have the very institutions return the generosity of the public with unfair and unannounced interest rate hikes. This behavior is beyond unprofessional, it is beyond irresponsible, and it can only be defined in one way: un-American.

Let me be clear, I do not think the resources of this body are best used by micro-managing any industry. I have consistently supported--and even introduced--legislation that moves private business out of public stewardship as quickly as possible.

But Mr. Chair, when credit card issuers prove they cannot honor their obligation to their customers and fellow Americans, then it is incumbent upon this Congress to act.

The bill we have before us today is simple. By moving the implementation date of the policies we have already supported to December 1st, we say in clear language that the days of credit card companies financing their excess and recklessness on the dime of taxpayers and their customers are over.

To my colleagues, I offer that in joining me in support of this measure, we also speak to our constituents. We tell them that we agree that the bailouts and capricious interest rate hikes are akin to a double taxation, and that this will no longer be tolerated.

Finally Mr. Chair, as we approach the holiday season and Americans prepare to travel and buy gifts for their loved ones--giving themselves a well deserved break from what has been a trying year economically--moving the enforcement of the fair credit reforms we have agreed upon to December 1st will result in increased consumer confidence. Our nation's retailers will benefit from the public being able to shop with the security that a present for a loved one in December won't result in an unwelcome and expensive surprise in January.

Mr. Chair, today we have an opportunity to accelerate the economic and social benefits of the CARD Act. Today we have an opportunity to expedite a return of a decent level of consumer confidence. I ask my colleagues to join me in seizing this opportunity by voting for H.R. 3639.

I would once again acknowledge and thank Chairman FRANK, Representative MALONEY, the members of the Committee on Financial Services, and their staffs for their continued efforts on the issue of fair consumer credit and for this bill. I ask for the quick passage of this bill.

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