Candidate Corner: The Credit Card Bill of Rights

Posted by: Gene M. | Dec 05,2007


Yes, I know I’m repeating myself.  I’ve already written about how Obama has talked about credit cards on the campaign trail.  There’s just so much of it, compared to other candidates.  You can think of Senator Obama as the credit card candidate.  He’s talking about it more than all other candidates combined.  This week Obama unveiled his “Credit Card Bill of Rights.”  This comes the same week as Senator Carl Levin, also a Democrat, questioned credit card companies in Congress.  Honestly, if you are voting purely on the basis of credit card regulations, the Democrats are the way to go.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, people think about a lot more than credit cards at the polls.  

But not us at Experts on Credit: we think about credit cards all day, all the time.  So Obama’s “Credit Card Bill of Rights” is pretty fascinating.  I’ve read in the Recent College Grad section that there’s legislation on the docket to stop “predatory” credit card companies from marketing on college campuses.  The students are manipulated into applying for cards with terrible rates that can change at a moment’s notice.  Obama’s legislation is the same – only trade “college campus” with “entire country.”

Monday was the official launch of the Credit Card Bill of Rights.  The article states, “Obama pointed to studies showing that consumers have an average personal debt of more than $8,000, a load driven higher by credit cards. He said soaring credit card debt could turn into a crisis as big as the one in the subprime mortgage industry.”  He’s right, but lowering rates too far could cause a problem as well.  Just as debt is a problem for borrowers, meager profits are a problem for creditors.  Both have implications for the economy.    

Is this just a campaign ploy?  After all, if you’re talking about credit cards, there’s one in just about every voter’s pocket, Republican or Democrat, so it speaks to people across the board.  As shown by Sen. Levin’s actions this week, it is a very real political issue, though time will tell once a new President comes into office if these campaign promises will come to fruition.

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