Davis seeks credit card crackdown
By Tony Batt
Columbia Daily Herald
Feburary 18, 2008

Washington- Saying credit card customers deserve "a bill or rights," Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn. has introduced legislation that would prohibit charges on debt that is paid on time and restrict interest rate hikes.

Davis said credit card companies sent more than 8 billion mail solicitations last year to American homes.

That's more than 25 solicitations for every man, woman and child in the nation, Davis said.

"The credit card companies have been trolling for customers to use their cards, and as a result of that, in many cases, the high fees they're charging and the profits they’re making are something that most of us in this nation would accept as being the practice of American business," Davis said.

Davis appeared at a news conference Thursday with fellow Democrats Carolyn Maloney of New York and Mark Udall of Colorado who also have introduced legislation to crack down on credit card companies.

Maloney said the House Financial Services Committee, on which she and Davis serve, may conduct a hearing on her bill as early as next month.

Davis recalled making a phone call to a credit card company in order to pay a debt so he would be charge a late fee. He was told there would be a $29 fee for paying over the phone.

"It was shocking to me to realize I couldn't pay by phone without paying an astronomical fee which was almost 50 percent or 30 percent of what my entire account was," Davis said.

So far the Davis bill, which he introduced Feb. 7, does not have any co-sponsors.