Fed flooded with credit card commentary

Washington -- The Federal Reserve's proposal to reign in deceptive credit card policies has drawn thousands of comments, the U.S. central bank said.

More than 33,000 comments -- a record for a credit card proposal -- have flooded in from consumers, businesses and the banking industry, USA Today reported Tuesday.

The proposals would tighten rules on applying payments to low versus high interest rate balances, changing interest rates on accrued debt and calculating fees, the newspaper reported.

"The banks are out of control," Barry Burke of Plano, Texas, wrote to the Fed after he was charged a $39 late fee on top of an interest rate change to 21.99 percent when the issuer of his card failed to send him a statement, the report said.

"Consumers are getting tired of getting bleep, bleep bleeped by credit card companies," said Linda Sherry of watchdog group Consumer Action.

Banks have also responded to the call for comment.

"We're listening," Ken Clayton, a senior vice president at the American Bankers Association told the newspaper.

But, Clayton warned that curbing some practices "may drive up prices for all customers."

"People that are perceived as riskier may see their access to credit dry up," Clayton said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.