In addition to the Bill in the U.S. House that may see a vote as early as next week, the new rules by the Fed that won’t go into effect until July 2010 (unless voluntarily by individual banks), and yesterday’s meeting between the president and 13 top bank executives in which he urged them to act less like predators, there’s one more bit of news about credit cards this week.

From Bloomberg.com:

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Senator Chuck Schumer, saying credit-card providers are “aggressively” raising interest rates, asked the Federal Reserve to immediately limit interest rate increases on existing balances.

We’ve previously reported on the recent aggressive tactics of credit card companies:

• Chase Adding Annual Fee Out of the Blue
• 45% Less Credit in Americans’ Wallets
• Citigroup Credit Card Rates Going Up: A Mystery

So you can be sure we’ll keep a close eye on this latest request of the Federal Reserve. Does it comply with the spirit of the “free market?” Absolutely not. Will it save many Americans from tipping over into bankruptcy or homelessness? We might just find out.

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