The House of Representatives approved legislation that seeks to protect consumers from lending abuses by credit card companies. The measure, passed 312 to 112, requires a notice period for interest rate increases, prohibits interest charges on balances paid during grace periods and bars issuers from applying payments first to lower-interest debt while debt carrying a higher interest rate remains unpaid.
Lawmakers have accused card issuers such as Citigroup, American Express and Discover Financial Services of luring borrowers into signing up for cards with confusing terms, then penalizing them with high fees and rates.
