Washington, DC— In a historic action, the U.S. House acted to regulate practices in the credit card industry for the first time today. It passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (H.R. 5244) co-sponsored by Rep. Watson (D-CA) by a bipartisan vote of 312 to 112.

Rep. Watson hailed passage of the bill, “As an original sponsor of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, I’m proud that the House acted to help Main Street even as we’re working to determine how to best help Wall Street. This bill will eliminate retroactive interest rate hikes, late fees that push cardholders over their credit limits, and double-cycle billing, among other reforms.”

Rep.  Watson  continued, “Consumer credit cards lack reasonable regulations, transparency and prudent lending—the same deficiencies that led to our current crisis. This new legislation, if approved by the Senate, will help families in a very real way.

“Today, the House sent a message to the American public that responsible regulation is part of the new era of financial responsibility-- and that responsibility works both ways, for companies as well as consumers,” Rep. Watson continued.

 “The Federal Reserve itself called the card company practices we are curbing today ‘unfair,’ ‘deceptive,’ and ‘anti-competitive.’  The margin of victory on the House floor today, exactly 200 votes-- combined with the 56,000 public comments on new credit card rules proposed by the Fed-- demonstrate the strong grass-roots support for these reforms. That’s momentum that the Senate should not ignore,” Rep. Watson concluded.