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PLUTOCRACY WATCH
Getting carded? Tell the US Senate.
BY CATHERINE TUMBER
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The best way to avoid the clutches of the credit-card industry, which seems intent on eating its young, is to keep a zero balance. But it that’s not possible, beware your card’s stated guidelines. Pay off the monthly minimum and your balance keeps growing. Pay on time and risk getting slapped with late fees anyway. Get into trouble with another bill and watch your credit-card interest fly through the ceiling ("universal default"). Sign the dotted line and immediately forfeit your right to ordinary legal procedure in the event of a dispute, including participation in class-action lawsuits and the right to appeal ("mandatory arbitration"). Mmmm. Yum-yum. After more than 20 years of banking deregulation and credit-industry bloat, a rising wail of consumer indignation has prodded Congress into showing at least a gesture of concern. On Tuesday, the Senate Banking Committee launched a hearing on credit-card practices that saw consumer advocates from Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, and academia sit down with federal regulators and representatives of four of the largest credit-card companies to face off on badly needed reform. To keep the game in play, however, members of the banking committee must hear from consumers themselves — over and over again. Linda Sherry, of Consumer Action — which fields consumer complaints, 38 percent of which concerned credit-card companies in 2004 — promises to deliver your horror stories directly to members of the committee "on a silver platter." Let’s just hope that the humble nonprofit can pay for it with cash. Air your credit-car-industry complaints with Consumer Action by e-mail at hotline@consumer-action.org or by phone at (415) 777-9648.
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