What a week for credit card issuers! The word “retribution” comes to mind.
Today’s meeting with Obama at the White House, Dodd and Schumer today asking Bernanke et all to use the Fed’s powers to block issuer interest rate increases, yesterday’s passage of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights out of the House Financial Services Committee, etc. Just a few of this week’s highlights…
Way back in early February, I wrote a blog post about “The Pressures on US Consumers from their Credit Card Debt” – primarily noting how the credit card issuers were actually digging their own grave with their upward interest rate adjustments. A natural (if silo’ed) response by issuers to the need to protect/improve the P&L of the credit card businesses inside major financial institutions.
In spite of this week’s angst, we’re still a ways away from any legislative response actually passing (in the Senate, in particular). The financial services lobby is certainly fully engaged on the issues. It will be fascinating to see who prevails.
What’s the lesson the credit card industry should learn from all this? Anything?