Panel Reviews Credit Card Consumer Protections
Mar 17th, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyIt isn’t discussed often in the context of access to capital but, right now, the primary source of debt financing for small businesses is the trusty credit card. Since there is enough about credit cards to entice the typical microbusiness owner, regardless of whether that is the best financing option available to them, there have a pretty gigantic stake in a piece of legislation currently being debated in Congress to strengthen consumer protection for credit card holders. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights was the subject of a hearing House subcommittee hearing last week. The bill proposes a plethora of protections for credit card holders, many of whom are microbusiness and small business owners — although most members of the Subcommittee either are not aware of that or didn’t consider it important enough to mention. Support for the bill has fallen out along partisan lines, judging from last week’s hearing, with Subcommittee Republicans firm enough in their opposition to suggest that President Bush wouldn’t sign it anyway. But, if the bill could reduce credit card fees and charges to bring this form of business financing into a cost range that is more in line with other forms of commercial lending, that would be a very good thing.
