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The Federal Reserve Board of Governors says it received several thousand more comments than it previously reported on proposed new rules for the credit card industry. When the board recently finished processing all responses to its proposed rules, the new total stood at 61,935 comments versus an older estimate of 56,000, a Fed spokesperson says. The Fed had never received as many comments on a proposal, the board says. The new rules, proposed in May by the Fed, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, would prohibit issuers from raising cardholders' interest rates on existing balances, except in special circumstances such as payments late by at least 30 days. The rules also would require issuers to apply cardholders' payments to their highest-interest balances first, and the payment cycle would change from 14 days to 21 days. The Fed gathered comments between mid-May and early August, with the vast majority coming from consumers outraged about the rising interest expenses and fees on their credit cards. Major issuers also commented, with many opposed to restrictions on raising cardholders' interest rates. The Fed spokesperson said the Fed expects to set the final rules before the end of this year.
