Relief for Credit Card Holders

The government has not yet aided struggling homeowners directly, but the Federal Reserve is considering relief for credit card holders. The Washington Post reports the Fed will vote on Thursday "on sweeping reform of the credit card industry that would ban practices such as retroactively increasing interest rates at will and charging late fees when consumers are not given a reasonable amount of time to make payments." The proposal includes a ban on raising the interest rates on credit card debt unless the customer was more than 30 days late in paying the minimum. If the Fed approves, it will be, consumer advocates say, the biggest overhaul of the credit card industry in decades. "It covers a lot of issues and is really unprecedented in its scope," said the CEO of the American Bankers Association. "You add them all up, it's going to mark the beginning of a new market."