I’ve sent the following letter to my representative Frank Pallone Jr. via email:
The people of the United States need an agency that is going to hold financial institutions accountable. We need protections to prevent companies from exploiting their customers through high interest rates and fees. We need strong protections to ensure that the ‘rules of the game’ are clear and simple for plain folks to understand. We also need to ensure that companies do not market products to people who cannot afford them.
For example, an credit card balance transfer offer should not be given if the 0% introductory rate changes to a very high rate at the first late payment. That is nothing but a trick. When the first payment is late, its only more likely that the next one will also be late. This is especially true if the next payment is required to be higher in amount because of the interest rate increase. This is but one example of why consumers need to be protected from the games that financial institutions have been allowed to play.
Please consider that the American people have cause to desire this kind of protection and that the financial institutions have demonstrated that their practices need to be formally and legally restricted.