Credit crunching
Courtesy : Market watch
Washington is expected to wrap up work this week on legislation that would curb credit-card practices decried by some as predatory and anticonsumer. But the credit-card industry is warning that new rules could backfire on consumers in a number of ways.
Given the recession and already weak demand, repeated warnings from industry representatives about overly restrictive rules cutting consumers' access to credit deserve particular attention.
"The risk of the legislation is that at the very time our economy is suffering from a lack of available credit, we are penalizing people who are at the front line of making credit available," said Lewis Wiener, partner and chair of the financial services litigation team at law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.
However, some are not convinced that limitations to credit would be severe.
"We hear a lot from issuers that credit will dry up. I don't see that happening. Credit card issuing is part of the market. Despite what is happening in this particular period with the downturn, even if [issuers] are not using some practices, credit cards will still be profitable," said Joshua Frank, senior researcher with the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, N.C.-based research and policy organization.
The future is somewhat murky given that Congress is still working on the bill, which President Barack Obama wants to sign by Memorial Day. The House has already passed a bill, and the Senate overwhelmingly approved its version Tuesday. The House is now expected to take up the Senate version Wednesday. See more on the Senate passage of the credit-card bill.
Many of the proposals in Congress are contained in final rules, approved last year by the Federal Reserve and other regulators, that touch credit-card rates, fees and disclosures, and take effect July 1, 2010. Some in Congress want those protections in place now.
Here are four areas where observers think consumers and their credit cards may take a hit due to new rules:
1. Less credit for riskier borrowers
Less flexibility to change rates could lead firms to reduce the availability of credit to higher-risk borrowers, said Gene Truono, managing director at BDO Consulting, a New York-based financial services advisory firm, and former head of compliance at Chase Cards.
"The models that the banks have used over time for sub prime have been those that allow them the flexibility to raise rates quickly during a higher delinquency economy," Truono said. The recession will only add to the issuers' concerns about creditworthiness, he said.
"In times like these, when the economy is uncertain and unemployment is rising, [access to credit] will be curtailed," Truono said. "It will make even larger issuers skittish about offering new credit to less creditworthy borrowers because of the inability to rapidly change rates."
But consumer advocates say protections are needed and that complaints from firms are overblown.
"Just because companies can't use deceptive practices, that doesn't mean they can't price somebody for risk," said Frank.
