Card issuers to meet Obama on fee limits

WASHINGTON|NEW YORK: Executives from credit-card issuers including Bank of America Corp and American Express Co are set to meet with President Barack Obama on Thursday in their fight against new limits on fees and interest rates.

They aren���t likely to make much headway: Obama is pressing for consumer protections that go beyond proposals approved on Wednesday by a US House committee and rules issued last year by the Federal Reserve.

On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee voted 48-19 to support a package of new restrictions including fee and rate limits. The full House could vote on the measure as soon as next week, and the Senate is considering a similar bill.

As unemployment and unpaid credit-card bills rise, card issuers are under fire for policies that impose large late fees and boost interest rates on delinquent customers. Banks, reeling from the recession and credit crunch, say proposed restrictions will raise consumer costs, limit credit availability, and ultimately hurt more borrowers than they help.

���It means less credit available to vast numbers of Americans at the very wrong time,��� said Ken Clayton, senior vice president of card policy at the American Bankers Association in Washington. ��� Bloomberg