dcsimg Consumers Union Attacks Credit Card Industry for the Holidays - indexcreditcards.com

Credit Card Calculators

How long will it take to pay off my credit card?

In the News
  • "As comprehensive a list as you'll find of all the credit card offers on the table now."

Consumers Union Attacks Credit Card Industry for the Holidays

by Peter Andrew
Consumers Union Attacks Credit Card Industry for the Holidays

NOTE: To offer our weekly summary of credit card rates, Credit Card Monitor, in your publication or on your Web site, please contact syndicate@indexcreditcards[dot]com.

Consumers Union, best known as publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, believes the credit card industry deserves a lump of coal this holiday. To drive this point home, the group has produced a satirical animation “It’s Always Christmas Time (for VISA)”. According to Consumers Union, the animation highlights unexpected credit card fees, rate hikes, and misleading contracts.

Consumers Union is urging Congress to pass reform bills that would do things like ban “universal defaults” (which some credit card issuers use to hike fees for missed payments on unrelated bills), prevent late fees on bills postmarked before the due date, and prohibit over-the-limit fees if the issuer approves the charge. The animation, which includes a song by Texas bluegrass band the Austin Lounge Lizards with lyrics like “With our plastic safety net/we’ve snagged the biggest loan shark yet” can be viewed at http://www.CreditCardReform.org.

Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.

This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.

Published  (Modified )

Share this article with: