It’s not that I don’t want to celebrate…a “Credit Card Victory!”

Unbeknownst to me at the time that I composed my (April 20, 2009) post entitled, “PRODUCT SAFETY RECALL: Chase credit cards ‘unsafe,’ pose ‘risks of substantial injury’,” Professor Elizabeth Warren had earlier proposed that a Financial Product Safety Commission be established.  (Professor Warren is a Harvard Law School professor and presently Chair of the TARP funds Congressional Oversight Committee.)

Professor Warren’s article came to my attention yesterday afternoon as I was perusing emails, one of which was a newsletter from Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL).  You may want to check out the AFFIL blog, here.  Now having read the newsletter and blog, I have concluded that I am not watching enough late night TV (referring to the fact that President Obama used Professor Warren’s “toaster analogy” during his appearance on Leno; I missed that one). 

While I am humbled by my inability to keep up, to me this suggests a need to openly admit that as one human being, it is unlikely that I will ever be able to do so all by myself.  The various newsletters and “heads up” messages I receive from site visitors are helpful, but I would respectfully ask for more.  Thus, comments that include links to such current events and information on the site can and often do direct visitors to very useful insights and resources, so keep them coming. 

Indeed, at the risk of calling upon all of you here too forcefully or appearing to sidestep my own responsibilities in terms of remaining informed and engaging in advocacy on this site: it is incumbent upon every one of us, working together, to create a robust knowledge management system and a (social networking) platform as a means of resistance against a common enemy: any credit card company that would engage in abusive practices against account holders.  (Oops! — maybe I’m spending too much time on the geeky stuff; translation: we need to collect and share all of the information we can get our hands on, and spread the word so that everyone on the whole planet who has been treated badly by credit card companies has a voice, and that voice is heard, loudly.) 

Meanwhile, in my ”PRODUCT SAFETY RECALL“ post, I was intending to make some “fresh, new and original” observations using my interpretation of the PEW (”SAFE CREDIT CARD“) study; yet, Professor Warren’s idea for a Financial Product Safety Commission definitely came before mine (i.e., summer 2007).  Further, since I was being somewhat sarcastic, directing my attention to Chase in particular relative to my own analysis as to what constituted an unsafe product, I might clarify: her suggestion for such a Commission is one that I think should be taken very seriously. 

I’m certainly not in the least bit surprised that Professor Warren may have many ideas that are excellent, and proactive, as she has been a leading proponent of credit card reform for years.  I have previously exchanged collegial correspondence with her, and I certainly admire her service as a true champion regarding this issue.

Although the aforementioned AFFIL email newsletter’s subject line announced a “Credit Card Victory!,” I think that there’s a lot more work yet to do. 

When an industry is run by people who are constantly looking for ways to bully customers and who spend their time dreaming up more and more ways to trap consumers (as a full-time avocation), we can’t let our guard down.  The credit card industry’s executives aren’t sorry; they’re sorry they got caught.  We won another round (the first significant blow against Chase, in particular, was its retraction of the so-called “service charge” that was in fact, “a finance charge”).  However, this industry as a whole fights with sucker punches and dirty blows below the belt.  What will Chase conjure up next?  We don’t know, but I note that whatever Chase executives may do, I am expecting that “fairness will be outdated” (i.e., no opt out). 

It’s not that I don’t want to celebrate, but I’ve already issued my own demands on behalf of myself and consumers who have been abused by Chase: ”If Chase wants peace, it can issue a press release” (making good on its promises to provide opt outs and addressing a number of other insults to account holders’ dignity, such as its defamatory portrayal of 400,000 account holders in the media, about which I have already written numerous times). 

This is no time for us to quit relative to the industry at large, either.  Opt outs need to be law (Alessandro has pleaded for you to “vote,” and now I am asking, too); mandatory arbitration is a rigged game (and it needs to end); and credit cards will continue to be unsafe, as long as the credit card companies are intent upon finding ways to engage consumers in a battle of wits with regard to a constant barrage of change in terms notices.  Last but not least, regulation without meaningful enforcement (I think it’s now clear that the OCC is a joke, given that Chase evidently finds the threat of its intervention laughable). 

No, we’re not done yet.  And you had better think twice if you think that Chase is anything less than a “terminator,” that is programmed (evidently as a core component of its culture and leadership) to keep coming, and coming, and coming, until the rights of all human account holders are obliterated.  Chase “will be back.”   

So, until all of your “unsafe” products have been recalled, credit card companies: 

NOW WE’RE (STILL) COMING AFTER YOU