Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota: The single Democratic vote in Senate against credit card bill

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Senate OKs bill to reign in credit card practices

by ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to rein in credit card rate increases and excessive fees, hoping to give voters some breathing room amid a recession that has left hundreds of thousands of Americans jobless or facing foreclosure. The House was on track to pass the measure as early as Wednesday, paving the way for President Barack Obama to see the bill on his desk by week's end.

"This is a victory for every American consumer who has ever suffered at the hands of a credit card company," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Banking Committee. The bill passed the Senate 90-5.

If enacted into law as expected, the credit card industry would have nine months to change the way it does business: Lenders would have to post their credit card agreements on the Internet and let customers pay their bills online or by phone without an added fee. They'd also have to give consumers a chance to spare themselves from over-the-limit fees and provide 45 days notice and an explanation before interest rates are increased.

Some of these changes are already on track to take effect in July 2010, under new rules being imposed by the Federal Reserve. But the Senate bill would put these changes into law and go further in restricting the types of bank fees and who can get a card.

Voting against the Senate measure were GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Robert Bennett of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota, as well as Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090519/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_credit_cards

[SoCalNative]

1. No great surprise

SD is one of 2 states that imposes no restrictions on banks re: credit cards. That's why all of your statements come out of SD or Delaware.

[ShortnFiery]

8. Excellent points SCN!

:thumbsup: :hi:

[book_worm]

2. because SD is a favorite state of the CC industry (see below)

South Dakota a Favorite State for Credit Card Companies
By: LawInfo
Published: 05/2008
Do you ever wonder why your Citibank credit card bill comes from South Dakota, and your payment goes there as well, when you know that Citibank is headquartered in New York? It is because of a combination of federal law and 50 different state laws that allow a bank in New York to use a South Dakota address to bill a customer in California.

Usury Laws

Many states have a usury law which limits the interest rate that a company may charge.
Most of these laws capped interest rates at 18%. However, some states, such as South Dakota, do not have a usury law, allowing in-state businesses to charge as much interest as they want.

Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, which includes regulating nationally chartered banks which do business in more than one state. In the Supreme Court case Marquette v. First Omaha Service Corp. in 1978 the Court ruled that nationally chartered banks do not have to follow state law in which they do business, but only the law of the state in which the company is incorporated. Because state usury laws were not uniform this rendered all of them irrelevant as credit card companies picked up and moved to the states that allowed them to charge the highest interest rates.

After the 1978 ruling only national banks were exempt. If you banked with a bank which only did business in your state you were protected by your state's law. But a federal law now exempts state
http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Articles/Credit-Card-Gift-Card-and-E-payments/Federal/south-dakota-a-favorite-state-for-credit-card.html

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Figures. Doesn't SD have some incestuous relationship w/Citi or someone?

n/t

[TwilightZone]

4. Citi and a couple dozen others.

It's credit card central.

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. I liked Tim Johnson better when he was a vegetable.

At least he wasn't voting against the American people then.

[choie]

14. it truly is amazing that a person can cheat death

get a second chance, and still vote against his constituents best interests and for usury.

[madfloridian]

6. We just got a notice that if we continue to use Visa they will up the rates...

no matter how much we pay monthly. The only way to avoid the huge rate increase is not to use the card.

I don't see any change to that in the bill. They already notify us before jacking the rates.

They do it to already existing amounts. I don't see a change on that in the bill.

I do see the gun rider got 27 votes.

[NOW tense]

7. Owned. n/t

[AndyA]

9. Johnson = credit card whore

You can tell what's most important to him. His constituents? Nah. He wants those corporate donations.

And I was so concerned about him when he was sick. But he really doesn't have what's best for the people in his state at heart, he's just a typical politician and that's a filthy, dirty thing.

[TwilightZone]

10. I hate to say this, but the situation and vote help him in SD.

There was no question that the bill was going to pass, so voting against didn't affect the passage, and it will please the zillions of South Dakotans involved in the CC industry.

I know, I know...it's the principle, and I agree. But, I also understand his reasoning.

[bluestateguy]

11. It's not even all that great of a bill anyway

It does some good things on the margins, but it's hardly an overhaul to the industry.

[autorank]

12. Sponsored bill that gave us subprime derivatives 2000

The sponsors of the "Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000." This is the act that allowed the wild speculation in derivatives like subprimes and credit default swaps. And those were the financial vehicles that caused our crash and burn economy.

Top row: Senators (S. 3283: Richard Lugar (R-IN), sponsor, cosponsors Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD).plus cosponsors, Retired Senators Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), Phil Graham, (R-TX), Chuck Hagel (R-NE). Bottom: Representatives (all retired) (H.R. 5600)Thomas Ewing (R-IL) sponsor; cosponsors Thomas Bliley, Jr. (R-VA), John J. LaFalce (D-NY), Jim Leach (R-IA).

[pepperbear]

13. yep: Mount Rushmore, Rocky Raccoon and Credit Cards. That's our SD.

[able1]

15. There's a simple way to get him to vote for the interests of his

constituents. Donate enough to his campaigns so he doesn't have to be a whore to the CC co. bandits.