May 15, 2009 09:39 PM UTC

Bennet Gets Good Credit Card Reform Press

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• by: Colorado Pols

In the Durango Herald today:

A Durango woman has become part of the push for credit card reform in Washington, D.C.

Melissa Mosley, a local business owner, contacted Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., to complain about the 32.99 percent interest on her small-business credit card.

Bennet was impressed by her story and used Mosley’s situation to urge credit card reform in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday.

“In my travels around Colorado, I’ve been struck by stories of unfair, undeserved credit card practices hitting consumers at exactly the hardest time,” Bennet said. “Melissa Mosley of Durango, Colo., told me about how tough economic times forced her to use several credit cards for purchasing supplies and day-to-day expenses for her small business.

“After a stretch of making minimum payments, Melissa’s interest rates suddenly rose – one even reaching 32 percent. The company is refusing to negotiate, making it even more difficult for Melissa and her husband to make ends meet,” Bennet said.

Mosley and her husband, Chuck, own Buffalo Creek Remodel in Durango.

“This is a really humiliating situation to be in,” Melissa Mosley said in an interview Thursday. “But I know if they don’t use real situations, many people can’t relate.”

Bennet was speaking in support of a proposed bill that would require credit card companies to give 45 days notice before increasing rates and would prohibit them from doing so on existing balances.

It’s a great story for Bennet every bit as much as it is for fellow Sen. Mark Udall, but obviously 2010-minded Bennet has a more immediate interest in being on the front lines of this very popular issue. It’s particularly good for Bennet in terms of base relations to support this bill, as it helps blunt the “in the pocket of the banks” meme that slipped into circulation recently.