April 28, 2009President Obama has advised credit card companies that as President, he would be supporting stricter regulations on the credit card industry and its practices. Coming up in July 2010, tougher regulations on deceptive practices by credit card companies will go into effect. Consumer felt some relief but the credit card executives began to whine.
While many credit card companies are hard at work, raising customer’s interest rates at the drop of a hat or cutting credit from loyal, good-credit customers, the executives still feel as though they have been through enough already with the Federal government. They feel they have already had to work overtime to comply with the new set of rules, even if they don’t start until mid-next year. They also complained because so many customers are defaulting on their contracted financial obligations because consumers are facing job loss and the inability to survive from paycheck to paycheck. They reason that by raising interest rates of the “good” customers, they can make up for the loss from the 
amount of defaults. These executives conclude that what they are doing will help to keep them in business.
Luckily, President Obama wasn’t in agreement. Instead, Obama reasoned that there needed to be more consumer protection while still enabling the credit card companies to make a profit. The new rules will certainly benefit credit card holders for many reasons. One of the major changes will dictate that the credit card companies can no longer raise the interest rates on any existing balances. Late fees can also not be charged unless a reasonable time has passed before a credit card holder hasn’t made a payment. It is these practices that are now taking place that are leaving more consumers struggling with credit card debt.
Essentially, the government wants to help rehab the relationship between the consumer and the credit card issuers. There will be the need for clearer agreements the average consumer can understand in an effort to prevent unknowing applicants get taken advantage of by big business. The President wants the situation to be fairer for all involved and the new regulations for 2010 should be a good start.
April 23rd, 2009, the chief economics adviser, Lawrence Summers was caught taking a nap at the table. Of course, the photographers had a good time with this, snapping pictures left and right of the man has he nodded off, holding his head on his hand and eventually sliding right off his hand before waking up.