Good news! Congress stood up to Big Finance and Big Insurance yesterday and passed two important pieces of legislation.
First, The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights bans some of the underhanded practices that have become all too familiar:
Ends unfair, arbitrary interest rate increases, by requiring ample notice before rate hikes and permitting lenders to raise rates on existing balances only if minimum payments are more than 30 days late (except for increases caused by changes in stated variable and introductory offers)
Ends penalties on cardholders who pay on time, like charging interest on already repaid debt
Protects consumers from due date gimmicks by requiring credit card companies to mail bills 25 days (instead of 14) before the due date
Ends the credit card practice of applying consumer payments to lower interest debt first
That aught to eliminate a couple pages of fine print in the "terms and conditions."
Second, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act bans the practice of insurance companies discriminating against people with mental illness, a most important move considering the number of Veterans returning home with PTSD. As Speaker Pelosi notes:
Untreated mental illness results in 1.3 billion lost days of work or school in our country every year. Yet bipartisan and independent research shows there is no significant cost to insuring mental illness like any other medical disease. With this legislation, we are making an investment in the strength and productivity of our nation. This will also benefit some of our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who later become employed in the private sector. For those brave men and women who served in the National Guard and the Reserves, but don’t receive VA care for their entire lifetime, this will help ensure they receive treatment if they ever struggle with mental illness.
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