THIS IS something the President is going after to make sure Americans KNOW about, and look at, as lifting the burden of the sneaking rise of consumer prices….
Folks?
The guys who watch CNBC, the Wall Street Journal and other Business media are NOT gonna like this…..
And they usually vote Republican, eh?
Under the new regulations, credit card issuers including Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase cannot charge more than $8 for a late payment unless they can explicitly point to data showing they must impose higher fees to make up for losses.
In issuing the restrictions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the government intends to close a legal loophole that had allowed some financial giants to charge an average of $32 per month for a missed or late payment. The amount has proved onerous for some cash-starved cardholders, while enriching the credit card industry, which reaped more than $14 billion in revenue from late fees in 2022, according to the CFPB….
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The policy is set to take effect later this spring, and it could save cardholders about $10 billion each year, according to the bureau, which estimates that about 45 million people have faced such fees. But its fate remains unclear, because the banking industry is expected to sue the CFPB, adding to the agency’s legal woes as the Supreme Court is weighing the future of its funding and regulatory powers in a separate pending case….
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The spate of federal activity reflects Biden’s ongoing campaign to stamp out the root causes of persistent inflation. Even as the costs of groceries, gas and other goods have leveled out in recent months, some Americans still report they are struggling to afford their basic needs — a problem that the president has blamed at times on corporate profiteering.
“Even as prices have come down on important items … some corporations aren’t passing those savings onto consumers,” said Lael Brainard, the director of the White House National Economic Council. “Instead, some corporations are tacking on extra fees, hiding costs and sometimes even breaking the law.”…
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“I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it,” the president said. “Not anymore.”
One year later, only some of those rules have been finalized or implemented, a reflection of the typically slow, lumbering nature of the federal rulemaking process and the inability of a divided, hyperpartisan Congress to tackle even the most basic tasks. Adding to the challenge, the Biden administration has often faced staunch lobbying oppositionfrom airlines, cable giants, travel resorts and ticket sellers, which have threatened at times to block even the most basic federal safeguards, further delaying relief to cash-strapped Americans….
Note…
The President HAS already cut Billions in Student loan debt…..