John W. Olver: “last week the full Committee on Appropriations voted 33 to 25 to accept this provision that prevents credit card issuers…”

“last week the full Committee on Appropriations voted 33 to 25 to accept this provision that prevents credit card issuers from using totally unrelated consumer information to raise the annual percentage rates on cardholders. The provision could have been protected by the Committee on Rules. It was not. Therefore, the point of order was possible. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) has accepted the point of order reluctantly. But this provision in no way prevents companies from raising interest rates, but simply states that banks can only base that decision on the interest rate on information that is relevant to the account that they issue. This provision would make sure that people who pay their credit card account on time and remain within their credit limit do not have their annual percentage rates increased. The practice of using unrelated information to increase those rates is not allowed when lenders issue home mortgages, and it simply should not be allowed when they issue credit cards. It is outrageous that this practice is legal. I hope that the discussion here, since the issue has been ruled out of order, will be the impetus for the Committee on Financial Services, which has raised the point of order, it will be the impetus to get rid of this practice.”