Many Online Credit Card Offers 'Unfair or Deceptive,' Pew Report Says
As federal lawmakers continue to work to close loopholes allowing banks to impose onerous terms on credit card users, the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that many continue to offer credit cards online in a manner that the Federal Reserve considers “unfair or deceptive.”
Reviewing almost 400 cards and comparing Internet materials in July 2009 with what was said online in December 2008, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit found that all presented problems and many do not comply with the new Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act. It takes effect in stages over a one-year period starting in August 2009, according to Bloomberg.
“Our research shows the most harmful practices the card act targets remain widespread,” Nick Bourke of Pew’s Safe Credit Cards Project tells the news agency.
A spokesman for the American Bankers Association notes that so-called hair-trigger notices of proposed credit-card interest rate increases ended in August, when the federal statute began requiring lenders to give cardholders 45-day advance notice and the choice of opting out.
