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Briefing

United States: Credit Card Industry

Appears in: North America, Finance and Banking, United States

Background:

Like many other aspects of the U.S. financial system, the lending practices of credit card companies have come under renewed scrutiny amid allegations of recklessness and deliberate use of misleading language or rate structures aimed at luring business. Proposals to curb such practices and found an agency to serve as a watchdog for consumer debt have sparked a debate. Advocates point to the role credit card lending plays in obscuring actual purchasing power of the American consumer and spurring bankruptcies; and detractors warn that overzealous reforms could lead to a severe contraction of credit and consumer spending.

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Associated Readings

News Fitch / Securitization.net Brian Bertsch May 27, 2009 Credit Card Legislation on US Bank and ABS Ratings/Performance Analysis Economist May 21, 2009 Credit cards in America: Knocked off balance; A once-glittering business loses its shine Blogs WSJ Real Time Economics Sudeep Reddy May 25, 2009 What’s Next for the Credit-Card Sector? News Bloomberg Jeff Plungis May 19, 2009 Senate Approves Credit-Card ‘Bill of Rights’ Measure Opinions Wall Street Journal Meredith Whitney Mar 10, 2009 Credit Cards Are the Next Credit Crunch News Federal Reserve Board Dec 18, 2008 Federal Reserve approves rules that will better protect credit card users Analysis Bloomberg Ari Levy and Elizabeth Hester Dec 18, 2008 Credit-Card Users Feel Pain as U.S. Banks Reap Gain Blogs Debt City Peter G. Miller Nov 24, 2008 Credit Card Reform Stuck On Capitol Hill News Wall Street Journal Robin Sidel Dec 11, 2008 Opinions Financial Times Meredith Whitney Dec 01, 2008 America must keep consumer liquidity flowing Blogs naked capitalism Dec 17, 2008 More Signs of Consumer Stress: 20% of Households Late Last Winter on Utilities RGE Writings RGE Monitor Mathias Kruettli Dec 09, 2008 A Forecast of Write-Downs on U.S. Credit Card Debt in 2009 Research UCSD and NBER Michelle J. White 2008 Personal Bankruptcy: Past Puzzles, Recent Reforms, and the Mortgage Crisis Analysis Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing John Chung, Robert M. Lawless, The Honorable Thomas Small and John Rao Dec 2, 2008 Credit Cards and Bankruptcy: Opportunities for Reform

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