This is disappointing:
The Senate has rejected a proposal aimed at lowering credit card rates by making banks and other card issuers abide by state interest rate caps.
The measure failed 60-35.
Background:
The amendment, sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Senator Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi, would close a loophole created in 1978 when the Supreme Court ruled that the laws of a bank's home state govern transactions across state lines, Mr. Whitehouse said.
This is why you send your credit card payments to places like:
South Dakota and Delaware, for example, have no interest rate cap and other states have loosened their consumer protections in order to attract business.
And which is why you won't be getting any credit card statements from, say, Ohio any time soon, because:
Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who is also sponsoring the measure, noted that the Ohio legislature set a maximum interest rate of 8 percent on loans under $100,000, but has no power to enforce that cap on the majority of companies, which are based outside of the state.
As for Senator Whitehouse, he's vowing to keep up the good fight:
"States should have the right to protect their residents from usurious and excessive interest rates, and I will keep fighting to stop the practice of allowing those states with weak consumer protection to set the standard for the rest of the nation. It is long past time we stop allowing these Wall Street banks and their credit card subsidiaries to take advantage of struggling families in Rhode Island and across the nation."
Imagine what kind of relief it would be to millions of Americans if they weren't on the permanent treadmill of paying off credit cards with 18% or 24% or even 30% interest rates. They are literally enslaved to these balances, because they are specifically designed to keep you indebted for decades.
If you have any credit cards, take a look at your latest statement, which likely has a chart outlining how long it will take you to pay off the balance. I have a card with a relatively low balance, but if I make only the minimum payment every month, it will take me nearly 15 years to pay it off. As it happens, I am fortunately able to pay double the minimum every month, so I will have it entirely paid off within a few months. In credit card industry parlance, that makes me a "deadbeat".
Meanwhile, the issue may yet have life, thanks to good ol' Bernie Sanders:
Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, said the issue is one of the most important in the overhaul of the regulatory system and has proposed a second amendment (SA 3740) that would bar credit card companies nationwide from charging an interest rate above 15 percent on unpaid balances.
Perhaps calling or emailing your respective senators is in order. You might tell them, "I'd love to contribute to your next reelection campaign, but unfortunately I will be unable to do so due to these fucking usurious interest rates".