Senate Proceeding 05-12-09 on May 12th, 2009 :: 1:54:15 to 2:03:10
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1:54:11 to 1:54:31( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: to their credit report in a form that they can fully understand. thank you, mad mr. wyden: madam president? the presiding office senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, in

1:54:15 to 2:03:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ron Wyden

1:54:32 to 1:54:56( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: the last congress, there was a wyden-obama amendment to protect the have credit cards in our country country. my original cosponsor has obviously moved on, doing important work for our country at 1600 pennsylvania, where he continues to advocate for the rights of consumers.

1:54:57 to 1:55:18( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: but i am very hopeful -- and discussions are now taking place with chairman dodd and minority member shelby that it will be possible to get a bipartisan agreement here in the next day or so to advance the legislation that i and then-senator obama originally proposed in the last congress. and i'm very ple

1:55:19 to 1:55:39( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: original cosponsor this session will be my new colleague oregon, senator jeff merkley, who has a long record of advocating for the rights of consumers as well. madam president, what senator obama and i originally proposed in the last congress would direct the federal reserve to

1:55:40 to 1:56:01( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: establish a safety rating system for credit cards. what then-senator obama and i saw to do was to make sure that cards with terms that are up and cards with these tricky terms, the terms that are larded

1:56:02 to 1:56:24( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: with and waivers -- the legal mumbo jumbo that is so deceptive in the marketplace -- those cards would be rated down. under our legislation cards with five stars would be deemed the safest; those with one star would be considered the least safe.

1:56:25 to 1:56:45( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: for example, credit card agreements that state that terms can be changed at any time any reason, would automatically get a one-star rating because that clearly is the kind of consumer caused great difficulty for american consumers and is just plain wrong.

1:56:46 to 1:57:08( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: i see much like the five-star crash rating cars. and, madam president, that system has worked. americans have become better educated about how their car will protect them in a crash and the ratings syste has helped incentivize the industry as far

1:57:09 to 1:57:29( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: as basic safety measures. now, when that rating system first came out, a lot of the cars only received one or two stars, but then the basic principles of competition and free enterprise kicked in and now you've got many of those cars receiving four

1:57:30 to 1:57:52( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: stars. i am very confident that what then-senator obama and i sought to do two years ago will accomplish exactly the same thing with credit cards. similarly, the safety star rating will increase competion between credit card companies over the fairness of the tms and their contracts which will create an incentive for them to

1:57:53 to 1:58:13( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: use fairer terms for more credit cards. credit card compani to display the ratings on all their marketing materials, billing statements, agreement materials and on the back of the card itself. consumers would be able to see the ratings for their card and how their card got that rating on a stand-alone web site that was operated and created by the

1:58:14 to 1:58:35( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: federal reserve. the federal reserve would be responsible for updating the star system and making sure that if new terms or practices come to market, those terms or practices would b appropriate rating. card issuers currently compete on their ability to advertise, mostly advertising their interest rates and annual fees

1:58:36 to 1:58:57( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: but not on the fairnessf their credit card contracts. card issuers advertise their great interest rates and their great tell the consumer that their card will cost less to use. but too often, t information is buried, the information about early deadlines and arbitrary rules,

1:58:58 to 1:59:19( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: and what happens is these cards end up costing millions of consumers more i believe, and senator merkley and i continue to advocate this cause, a cause that began in the last congress that we believe that consumers deserve to have the tools that are needed to make informed choices about what they buy.

1:59:20 to 1:59:40( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: and that, of course, is what the marketplace is all about, is gettg information to consumers so they can make the choices that make sense for them. and we believe that our legislatn empowers consumers to better make the marketplace work our economy.

1:59:41 to 2:00:02( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: i want to close, madam president, by saying that i have always felt that in a free society right to make decisions that, by perhaps somebody else's assessment, would be wasteful or ill-advised. in effect, we have in our country a constitutional right

2:00:03 to 2:00:24( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: to be pretty foolish money. the problem with credit cards is that too often the marketplace fails the millions and millions of americans who want to manage their money responsibly. too often, the major provisions of these credit card, you know, agreements require that you have an advanced legal degree -- not

2:00:25 to 2:00:45( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: just a basic law degree, but a advanced legal degree -- in order to sort out the terms. and i just don't think it's right to say that you ought to, in effect, be somebody who spends their free time reading the uniform commercial code in order to make sense out of these terms and these credit cd

2:00:46 to 2:01:06( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: agreements. so i'm very hopeful that now with millions of our people walking on an econo it will be possible to use classic free market principles. this isn't heavy-handed regulation. this isn't run-from-washington micromanagement that's going to

2:01:07 to 2:01:27( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: jack up somebody's credit card rates. this is about disclosure. this is about making sure that people in this marketplace understand what is in front of them and that they are in a better position with objective information -- in this case, supplied by the federal reserv reserve -- or overseen in a

2:01:28 to 2:01:48( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: system operated by the federal reserve -- consumers would be able to make better choices while forcing the credit card companies to compete on best craft these technical, legalistic terms, this legal mumbo jumbo but, ins

2:01:49 to 2:02:09( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: their credit card choices and who addresses the rights of consumers with responsible practices that are well respected and observed by those. and i believe the majority who want to do right by the consumers of our country. madam president, i will continue to talk with chairman dodd and the ranking minority member,

2:02:10 to 2:02:30( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: senator shelby. they are familiar with what then-senator obama and i sought to do in the last con floor. it is high time that the rights of credit card it was addressed and that these credit card consumers got a fair shake. i think i've got the best

2:02:31 to 2:02:55( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: possible partner, somebody who's been a consumer rights in senator merkley, and we are very hopul that in the next day or so, we will be able to forge an agreement with the chairman and the ranking minority member. and with that, i would yield the floor. and i would also note, madam president, the a qrum. the presiding officer: the clerk

2:02:56 to 2:03:01( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: will call the r