Congress urged by Obama to pass the credit card bill by Memorial Day

At a town hall event at a New Mexico high school on Thursday Barack Obama called upon the U.S. Congress to pass a credit card bill by the end of May to ban unfair rate increases and end abusive penalties. The President noted that U.S. citizens currently pay about $15 billion in penalty fees each year and nearly half of American families carry a balance on their credit cards.

"Enough is enough. It's time for strong, reliable protections for our consumers. It's time for reform that is built on transparency and accountability and mutual responsibility," Obama said.

"This is America and we don't begrudge a company's success when that success is based on honest dealings with consumers. But some of these dealings are not honest," he added. "We expect to pay what's fair and not just what fattens growing profits for some credit card company.”

"I am calling on Congress to take final action to pass a credit card reform bill that protects American consumers and send it to my desk so that I can sign it into law by Memorial Day," he said.

The President mentioned four main principles that should underlie any reform. These are protection against unfair rate increases and abusive fees, clarity and transparency of terms and conditions, enough information so people can comparison shop, and accountability for abuses by credit card issuers.