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The President took center stage to portray himself as the populist leader of the beleaguered consumer. All three networks led with Barack Obama's White House meeting with executives of the 14 largest credit card companies. His key soundbite led the Story of the Day: "The days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end." In total, consumers have run up a total of $962bn in credit card debt, on which they are paying an average annual interest rate of 14.6%--as well as forking over a total of $15bn each year in late fees and penalties.

Credit cards are a hot button issue. ABC's Jake Tapper told us that fully one-tenth of all the citizen mail that the White House receives concerns "unfair credit card practices" while NBC's Lisa Myers noted that "politicians have received a crescendo of complaints." Chief among them are hikes in interest rates "not just on future charges but on debts they already owe." The Federal Reserve Board has already drafted regulations that will not be implemented until July 2010. NBC's Myers reported on proposed legislation in the Senate to bring that deadline forward.

CBS' Anthony Mason ticked off the four reforms that President Obama called for: no retroactive interest rate increases, agreements written in plain English, easy comparison shopping between plans, and tougher enforcement. At present, Charles Geisst, author of Collateral Damaged, told Mason: "There is nothing stopping the credit card companies." As for the banks, ABC's Tapper quoted the industry's justification for its rates and fees as "doing what it needs to do to survive in a recession."


Andrew Tyndall 4/25/09 4:53:40 pm

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