Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Providence Journal photo / Mary Murphy
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, back to camera, listens Monday to Felice Fleury, left, talk about her problems with her credit cards. On the right is William Floriani, who also saw his interest rates go up.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse brought together a small group of Rhode Islanders on Monday morning to talk about the problems they've had dealing with high interest rates imposed by credit card companies.

The four participants related a range of personal histories that ultimately ended in the same predicament -- interest rates that nearly tripled over short periods. The group included a young man once hospitalized with a debilitating disease, a businesswoman with multiple credit accounts, an elderly man and a mid-career professional laid off for a short period.

In May, President Obama signed into law the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which addresses some of the issues the speakers raised Monday at the meeting in the John Hope Settlement House in Providence. Whitehouse, a Democrat, has sponsored two other proposals addressing credit-card issues.

The first would provide incentives for credit card companies to keep down interest rates; the second would reverse a decades-old federal law that allows companies to shop for states with lax consumer laws, allowing them to impose onerous interest rates and fees on account holders across the country.

 Tags  credit cards economy Providence R.I. Sheldon Whitehouse

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