Senate Proceeding 05-13-09 on May 13th, 2009 :: 1:06:05 to 1:14:10
Total video length: 4 hours 42 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:206 Duration: 0:08:05 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

1:06:01 to 1:06:22( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: very often. i try to reserve my comments for matters of particular importance and urgency, matters where i th difference and where the debate will matter. we are debating one such issue today. when it comes to the important need, the critical need to rein in the abusive practices of credit card companies that are harming thousands of middle-class families across my

1:06:05 to 1:14:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Evan Bayh

1:06:23 to 1:06:44( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: state and millions of middle-class families across america. mr. president, just this last weekend i received more than 500 letters and e-mails from my constituents, middle-class people across indiana who are outraged because they rightly feel they have been abused by the predatory practices of credit card companies.

1:06:45 to 1:07:06( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: these are decent, hard-working people who are asking for a fair shake in life and too often are not getting it because of these abusive practices. i'd like to take the opportunity to share with you a couple of these stories. many of them are heartfelt. there are -- i'll give you an example. this one is from a single mother. she writes me, dear senator bayh, i am the single mother of

1:07:07 to 1:07:27( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: a teenage boy and i work 50 hours per week fplt she is a hard-working middle american. in a job i've had for 14 years. my ex-husband quit his out of the blu paying child support for more than a year. i had to turn to using my credit card for things like groceries, gas and other bills to keep up. if you are one or two days late

1:07:28 to 1:07:48( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: in paying your bill, these credit card companies increase your p-pblg rate to as -- percentage rate to high amounts. beuse i was struggling and a few days -- not months, just a few days late on some of my credit card payments, the percentage rate on my credit cards are between 28% and 32%.

1:07:49 to 1:08:09( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: i'll never pay off bills with rates like that. so many people out there are at the mercy of unscrupulous credit card companies that can do what they please. there need to be laws regulating how much these companies can charge. americans are mired in credit card debt that will never be paid off no matter how hard they work, no matter how hard they try to do the right thing if the current practices don't change.

1:08:10 to 1:08:32( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: my economic situation will be so much better if it weren't for my credit card bills. i owe probably $15,000 now on all my credit card bills combined, but it will take me a lifetime to pay those off because of the practices to which i've been subjected. please fight for hard-working people eve chance to get out from under their debt and better their

1:08:33 to 1:08:54( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: financial situations. mr. president, i heard from a woman from carmel, indiana. she had closed account. she wasn't buy buying anything new. she always paid her bill on time, out of the blue, she had

1:08:55 to 1:09:15( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: done nothing wrong, out of the her minimum payment. she is a woman of modest means. she called the bang and they wouldn't work with her -- bank and they wouldn't work with her even though she had never been late. soon the credit card company started to add late fees and compounded her interest. over the course of two years her

1:09:16 to 1:09:36( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: balance tripled from $8,000 to $24,000 without making a single purchase. she had done nothing wrong and she this is the kind of thing that has to stop, mr. president. i heard from another constituent from middlebury, indiana. middle class middle america, who received an offer from her credit card company to

1:09:37 to 1:09:57( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: consolidate her balances at 4%. that sounded like a good rate. she accepted the offer. she had never missed a payment. she paid off half of her debt when suddenly they raised the minimum payment by 60%. she paid on time and paid town the debt and the payment went up

1:09:58 to 1:10:18( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: by 06% without -- 60% or any notice. she called the customer service to complain. they said that they would lower the minimum payment back to the original level if she would agree to have the interest rate doubled. this woman from middlebury is a mother, she is trying to keep her head above water. these are the kind of things that we have to stop and those

1:10:19 to 1:10:39( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: are the kind of things that i hope that we will stop yet this week here in the united states senate. here's what she wrote -- quote -- "i don't know what -- i don't know that our government can do a thing about this. but i just wanted to be heard." well, here is the place where he here is the place where thousands of middle-class

1:10:40 to 1:11:00( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: families like hers can come for relief. here is the place where 500 people who wrote about the abuse to which they have been subjected can come for relief. this recession has caused millions of families to use their credit card more. not because they wanted to, but to keep ends meet.

1:11:01 to 1:11:22( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: they're working hard and trying get out from the situation and it doesn't make it easy when they're running up hill because of the abusive practices. bills are sent out late. they arrive in your mailbox, you have 24 off or you're subjected to a late fee. interest rates can literal because of the fine print in the

1:11:23 to 1:11:43( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: bills, you know, back in the day, you would apply for a credit card, it was a one-page thing. now it is 20 or 30 pages of the fine print and buried in the fine print is that the companies raise the interest rate any amount at any time or for no reason. finally when you make the payments, they take the payment

1:11:44 to 1:12:05( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: that you make, rather than applying it to the most expensive part of the debt with the highest interest rate, they apply it to the lowest interest rate. why? because it is more profitable for them. those are the kind things that we have to correct. now, look, mr. president, you know me pretty well. i'm a free enterprise person. i believe in right of companies to make a profit and credit card

1:12:06 to 1:12:26( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: companies are no exception they ought to make it the legitimate old fashioned way, not on the backs of consumers through abusive practices, and that's what we're talking about here. this also, mr. president, goes to something else that i'm concerned about. and that is the deepening skepticism and cynicism about government in general and about

1:12:27 to 1:12:48( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: washington, d.c., in particular. they think that we're all under the thumb of a bunch of special interest. everybody is sold out and no cares about the average family anymore. this gives the opportunity to show, to demonstrate that that is not true. to stand up for millions of ordinary people, to do what is right, to say that the free market should be allowed to operate, you shouldn't scam

1:12:49 to 1:13:09( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: people, you things in fine print, you shouldn't bait an switch. -- and switch. so for the sake of middle-class families across states like indiana and new mexico and elsewhere across america, for the sake of folks who are working hard trying to get out from the consequences of this

1:13:10 to 1:13:30( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: recession, for the sake of trying to restore some faith and trust in our system of self-government, it's important that we pass this credit card bill to restrain these abusive practices, to stand up for middle-class families, to do right b our citizens, and to let people know when their voices are heard, i will answer.

1:13:31 to 1:13:55( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: mr. president, that's why i have risen on this bill. i ask my colleagues to join us in acting. i hop that we will have the opportunity to do that before the week is out. i want to thank you for your leadership and my colleagues. present, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk

1:13:56 to 1:14:01( Edit History Discussion )

Evan Bayh: will