Ryan was one of only 64 House members to vote against a law requiring credit card companies to notify cardholders they were going to raise their interest rates (it passed).
This week both houses of Congress voted through a bill that would sharply curtail card issuers' ability to charge punitive fees and raise interest rates.
Caixabank has begun searching for a partner who would buy part of its Spanish credit- and debit- card business, the latest indication of a selling spree by Spanish banks to raise capital.
The credit card companies became subject to the laws of a state that placed no limits on how much interest they could charge their customers, allowed them to raise their rates on a whim, and permitted any number of additional provisions that made life immeasurably better for credit card dealers.