Bank of America recently announced that it will impose annual fees on some of its cardholders.  This is in response to the CARD Act (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009), which effectively shifts costs to responsible people from irresponsible people, forcing banks to increase charges to responsible credit card holders.

The CARD Act has also wiped out many cash-back and rewards programs and rebates on credit cards, something earlier chronicled here.  Despite that fact, its passage was trumpeted by President Obama…

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Your host Richard Morrison welcomes guest co-host Jeremy Lott and Editorial Director Ivan Osorio for Episode 63 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We start with CEI’s FOIA fight with the U.S. Treasury, 7-Eleven’s attempt to give consumers a big gulp of government and the solution to a jobless recovery. We then move on to union pension politics, Ireland’s regrettable embrace of EU hegemony and some scantily-clad Olympic News.

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If your credit is good, or your credit card balance is low, you may soon pay more on every credit card bill. Why? Congress passed a misguided new credit card law, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. As a result of it, you may end up paying an annual fee. And you may end up losing your percentage rebates, your cash back, or your rewards program.

The new law arbitrarily limits credit card companies’ ability to increase…

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Earlier, the Obama Administration pushed through $250 billion in mortgage bailouts, to bail out even some high-income borrowers with normal mortgage payments, and forced financial institutions it took over in the name of fiscal responsibility, like Freddie Mac, to run up billions in losses bailing out irresponsible borrowers.

Now, it’s applying the same destructive, redistributionist philosophy to credit cards.

Commercial lawyer John Hinderaker notes that with Obama’s support, “Congress has just enacted new credit card regulations intended to limit banks’ ability to collect money from distressed…

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The Wall Street Journal editorial got it exactly right:

The Federal Reserve cut rates to historic lows Tuesday, but today it plans to vote to tighten consumer credit — taking away with one hand what it gives with the other. On the agenda is a rule-making that would impose, for the first time, what amount to federal price controls on credit cards.

That’s what the Fed’s proposed amendment to Regulation AA would do. In changes pushed by consumerist groups and grand-standing lawmakers, the proposal would…

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So, say you’ve had a good relationship with a credit card company and been paying off substantially more than minimum payment over recent months. You’ve also completely paid off other credit cards in recent months. You then get a notice from the credit card company saying they’re reducing your credit limit, right before Christmas. Would you be more than a little miffed?

Well, I certainly was. The behavior of a certain large company surprised me today as I have always tried…

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