WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to send him legislation by Memorial Day that would put a tighter rein on the credit card industry.
In his weekly Internet and radio address, Obama says Americans know they have a responsibility to live “within their means and pay what they owe.”
But he also says they have a right to not get “ripped off” by sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that he says have become “all-too common.”
Credit-card crackdown legislation has already cleared the U.S. House of Representatives and awaits action in the U.S. Senate.
But the banking industry is fighting back, with credit-card executives maintaining that new restrictions could backfire on consumers, making it harder for banks to offer credit or put credit out of reach for many borrowers.
And they say that the sweeping rules already ordered by the Federal Reserve, beginning next year, address many consumer-protection concerns.
