Oregon Public Broadcasting

As the U.S. Senate wrestles with regulating the credit card industry, Oregon's Jeff Merkley is advocating
some controls on interest rates and other charges.

Merkley's a member of the Senate banking committee. This week, committee members are working on a bill intended to stop companies from baiting customers with low interest rates, then raising them if customers run up a hefty balance.

Merkley says he's not trying to stop lenders from changing rates for customers with bad credit.

Jeff Merkley: "The middle ground is to say, Look, we've been charging you six percent, that's what you agreed to. we are going to now raise our rate to a higher level. We're going to tell you in advance so you can decide if you want to run up additional purchases. That is a fair change in the interest rates."

The committee is also discussing whether credit card lenders should be prevented from holding payments to rack up late fees. Merkley says he'd like to see additional protections for consumers younger than 21.

Authors of the bill hope it may come to a floor vote next week.

A House version of the bill calls for somewhat looser restrictions on interest rates and fees.