The American Senate passed legislation, in a 95-5 vote, that promises to reform the credit-card industry by, among other things, banning practices such as sharp rises in interest rates.

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Credit card reform gives them more weapons in their competitive battle to boost sales and build loyalty.

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Ms. CHU: Regulators have been mulling credit card reform, rate and fee reform, for quite some time now.

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To be fair there have been credit card reform, children's health insurance -- there have been a series of pieces of legislation passed by this President that enjoy bipartisan support.

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By 2005, there was another run at a bankruptcy reform, motivated by the credit card companies and the other big lenders.

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Expect Congress to move more quickly on the consumer side of financial reform, including passing a credit card owner's "bill of rights" and allowing bankruptcy judges to alter mortgage terms.

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Congress is passing credit card "reform" legislation. some of the provisions, such as requiring companies to mail statements at least 21 days before a bill is due, are relatively harmless.

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Meanwhile, the reform ignores the real anti-trust problem that is raising consumer prices, credit card interchange.

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After all, times have been tough, and credit card companies were allowed to operate in shady ways prior to personal finance reform legislation taking effect in February 2010.

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It also supports a parasitic economy of card marketers, credit scorers, collection agencies, junk-mail printers, letter carriers, financial reform lobbyists and yacht-sailing antitrust lawyers.

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