Credit Cards Make Appearance on Campaign Trail

Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate, lambasted credit card companies? marketing tactics yesterday in a speech on the economy (?Obama Says Card Issuers Trick Consumers with Unfair Practices,? June 12).

While not specifically proposing any new legislation, Obama noted that card industry lobbyists were having undue influence on consumer laws. He cited the bankruptcy reform of 2005 as a prime example.

And maybe he has a point, after news of card marketer CompuCredit?s troubles with the FTC and FDIC.

But what impact would increased consumer notification have on the marketing of credit cards anyway? Most Democratic proposals seek not to drastically alter terms of contracts or impose additional taxes or regulations on card companies. They seem to be more in favor of additional disclosures to consumers regarding minimum payments and ?plain language? explanations of terms and conditions.

So what kind of effect would new laws stressing simpler consumer communication have on the extension of credit via cards? There seems to already be plenty of card debt out there, and I seriously doubt Americans would suddenly give up their lust for credit spending. What do you think?

Below is a snippet of the speech yesterday provided by CNN.