House Proceeding 04-29-09 on Apr 29th, 2009 :: 0:55:25 to 1:00:45
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0:54:10 to 0:56:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Peter Welch

0:55:10 to 0:55:31( Edit History Discussion )

Peter Welch: debate about protecting consums. not yet in this -- not in this bill. this bill on its own deserves to be passed. but those two issues are, one, is interest rates, and two,, is it time to provide protection to the merchants, the small businesses? i believe it is time to have an interest rate cap. we have historically had it until the supreme court took those away.

0:55:32 to 0:55:52( Edit History Discussion )

Peter Welch: but we've had caps on interest as far back as the baseball loanian times -- babalonian times. you know, it's one thing if somebody gets notice that their interestvate going to go from 8% to 38%, but you know what? it probably shouldn't go up to 38% and we ought to have a lid. second, there's an argument that

0:55:53 to 0:56:14( Edit History Discussion )

Peter Welch: the banks are making that this will compress credit. make it more difficult to get. the reality is, thathe credit is shrinking already because the practices that have been excessive. over eight billion solicitations go out not just to consumers but to their pets. there is an alarming parallel between what's being done here on credit card ors what has been done and what happened in the

0:56:15 to 0:56:26( Edit History Discussion )

Peter Welch: subprime crisis. credit card issuers, securitize an pass off their risk to the secondary maet, pass on the losses by increasing fees on responsible users of credit. and they fail to exercise

0:56:27 to 0:56:47( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: reasonable underrating standards. we have got to change the business model so th responsibility on both sides. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. gutierrez: yes, i yield a sponsor of this bill, the gentlelady from new york, additional two minutes.

0:56:30 to 0:59:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Carolyn B. Maloney

0:56:48 to 0:57:08( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr chairman for yielding and for his leadership on this important bill and in so many areas. i'd like this time to respond to my good friend and colleague on the other side of the aisle, mr. bachus, where he pointed out that the bill may cause interest rates to rise and credit lines

0:57:09 to 0:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: to be cut. but what we're hearing now, interest rates are rising and credit lines are being cut and we don't have the bill in place. in fact, what we're hearing from many people on this floor and what we hear when we go home to our districts, that oftentimes when you pay on time and do not go over your limit, interest

0:57:31 to 0:57:52( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: rates can go up. and it's totally legal. i've talked it to constituents and others that have told me that their rates have doubled, they've called the issuers and they don't even have to give them a reason. because now in the very fine print they can raise the rates any time, any reason.

0:57:53 to 0:58:13( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: retroactively on existing balances. one astonishing hearing was when the head of freddie mac testif services committee and he said that he and his wife read the credit card contract fine print for hours and could not figure

0:58:14 to 0:58:36( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: out what it said. the federal reserve also came forward and said that disclosure was not enough. they said the practices were unfair and deceptive. and misleading. that the average citizen, like the chairman of freddie mac, could not even understand what

0:58:37 to 0:58:58( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: was in the fine print. so this bill is really very balance and fair and allows consumers to have notice when interest rates are going up. they have 45 days' notice. so they can decide whether they want to opt into this higher rate or go to another card that has a lower rate. and pay off their balanc

0:58:59 to 0:59:06( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn B. Maloney: this will put competion into the system and i believe lower rates. so i wanted to respond to the

0:59:07 to 0:59:27( Edit History Discussion )

Luis V. Gutierrez: gentleman on the other side of the aisle. i the issuers have been opposed to this legislation and we need it now. we're in bad times. consumers need protections. the chair: the gentleman from illinois. mr. gutierrez: mr. chairman, in continuing our agreement, i'm going yield myself five minutes. that will put us at about the

0:59:10 to 1:06:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Luis V. Gutierrez

0:59:28 to 0:59:48( Edit History Discussion )

Luis V. Gutierrez: same amount of time on each side of the aisle. so i yield myself five minutes, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. gutierrez: mr. chairman, first of all, let me rise in strong support of h.r. 627, the credit cardholders' bill of rights act of 2009. and let me once again thank the gentlelady from new york,

0:59:49 to 1:00:09( Edit History Discussion )

Luis V. Gutierrez: congresswoman maloney, for her defending consumers. i can't think of a better legislative product that i could have as chairman of the subcommittee on financial institutions to bring before this house of representatives than the bill that the gentlelady has worked so

1:00:10 to 1:00:31( Edit History Discussion )

Luis V. Gutierrez: tirelessly on over many, many years. i'm delighted that i got this opportunity and it's indeed a great privilege. look, we have more than 640 million credit cardin circulation that account for an estimated $1.5 trillion of consumer spending. $1.5 trillion of consumer spending.

1:00:32 to 1:00:52( Edit History Discussion )

Luis V. Gutierrez: clearly the u.s. economy has gone plastic. i mean, you've been around, nobody takes out a checking account anymore. nobody sticks their hand in their pocket and brings out cash. economy. and society. but america's love affair with credit cards comes with a hefty