Watchdog Blog

Victory for Consumers on Credit Cards -- Part 1

Today, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 5244, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).  Among other provisions, the bill:

• requires advance notice of credit card account rate increases;
• prohibits the practice of "double billing," addresses the problem of ever-changing payment dates;
• restricts the use of over-the-limit transaction fees;
• restricts "sub-prime" credit cards; and
• prohibits companies from issuing cards to minors.

This is a great step forward for consumers.  It has been more than twenty years since Congress passed the last major substantive credit card reform legislation.  Public Citizen wholeheartedly supports the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights (read our letter of support here), and joined a coalition of other consumer, civil rights and union groups (read the coalition letter here) in support of the bill.

A New Era for Consumer Product Safety

It’s been a little over a month since the president signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which reformed product safety law and bestowed more resources and responsibility upon the oversight federal agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSIA is a welcome improvement to product safety regulation, giving the CPSC the resources it needs to protect the public. As we’ve mentioned before, highlights of the bill are that it requires that children’s products be tested before they are sold and bans lead and toxic phthalates in toys; requires the CPSC to create a publicly accessible consumer complaint database; increases civil penalties that CPSC can assess against violators; and protects whistleblowers who report product safety defects. In short, this bill makes big, important changes in product safety law.

So what has the CPSC been up to since the bill’s passage? About two weeks ago, the agency held a public meeting to discuss its work in implementing the new law and built a web site devoted to CPSIA implementation. The web site contains summaries and interpretations of the new requirements, and a helpful timetable referred to as CPSC “Required Actions” under the Act, which lists its tasks (a majority of which is rulemaking) for the coming months and years. Conspicuously absent from its “Required Actions” list, however, is the consumer complaint database – a crucial part of this product safety overhaul.

Protecting the rights of government whistleblowers

originally posted by Alyssa Wolice at CitizenVox

It’s no secret that the government officials you elect to serve the public’s best interests often abuse their power and cost you your hard-earned dollars. So, when the average government employee witnesses the acts of corruption that continue to plague our political system, shouldn’t they have the freedom to speak up and protect the public’s rights without facing the risk of retaliation?

Forced Arbitration Impedes Credit Card Reform Effort

If you read the paper or the US PIRG blog this weekend, then you know about an editorial in Sunday's edition of the NY Times that appealed to Senators Obama, McCain and Biden to urge Senate and House leadership to support the  Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights.  We agree with the Times' assessment of the bill's importance:

Too many people are finding that even if they pay their bills regularly, their interest rates can still be jacked through the roof. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would help rein in some of the worst abuses. It would stop creditors from applying interest rates retroactively to balances incurred under an old rate, or charging late fees for checks mailed days before the due date.

Doing away with the punitive practices that credit card and other consumer service industries use to penalize consumers and line their own pockets is a worthy goal, but enacting this legislation is not enough.  Credit card reform will not be comprehensive until Congress has made sure that consumers are able to fight for their rights, and that the fight is a fair one.

Protect the Elderly from Forced Arbitration

by David Arkush and Christine Hines

Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee followed its counterpart in the House and approved an important arbitration bill to protect residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, S. 2838. The legislation, which a House committee approved in July, will make it easier to hold these facilities accountable for negligent or reckless acts that harm their residents. It prevents nursing homes from forcing residents to agree to arbitration before a dispute arises, allowing residents to turn to the courts in the event their nursing homes cause them serious injuries or death. Without this protection, nursing homes can force residents to take disputes to private arbitrators chosen by the nursing home itself. Guess who wins cases there?

Obama’s Mistake on Public Financing (and how McCain is skirting the law, too)

Originally by Andy Wilson at TexasVox.org

Today’s New York Times reported that life is not all peaches and cream for the Obama campaign after they opted out of the presidential public financing system.  (See Article “Straining to Reach Goal, Obama Presses Donors“)

Pushing a fund-raiser later this month, a finance staff member sent a sharply worded note last week to Illinois members of its national finance committee, calling their recent efforts “extremely anemic.”

The signs of concern have become evident in recent weeks as early fund-raising totals have suggested that Mr. Obama’s decision to bypass public financing may not necessarily afford him the commanding financing advantage over Senator John McCain that many had originally predicted.

But the campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party. It collected in June and July far less from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s donors than originally projected. Moreover, Mr. McCain, unlike Mr. Obama, will have the luxury of concentrating almost entirely on campaigning instead of raising money, as Mr. Obama must do.

It is not yet clear whether the Obama campaign will be able to ratchet up its fund-raising enough in the final two months of the campaign to make up the difference.

Public financing is a boon to any politician who accepts it, as it allows her or him to run free from the strings attached to big-dollar-donations and to focus the campaign’s time on where it should be spent: connecting with voters.  This is why when I explained Public Financing to Congressman Nick Lampson, currently running in the most competitive House race in the country, he was exuberant to think of a time when he would no longer have to dial for dollars. Considering the other two competitive House races in Texas, in CD 7 and 10, think of the race it would be if the campaigns were on equal footing moneywise and ideas, not dollars, affected the outcome of the race.