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News on the Recovery Act, Unfair Credit Card Rate Hikes
Posted by Zack Pohl on November 02, 2009
MLive: Michigan's share of the Recovery Act so far: $5.2 billion, 22,000 jobs
Michigan's job-creation figure from federal Recovery Act spending rose above 22,000 in new data released by the Obama administration Friday. The state has received roughly $5.2 billion in stimulus funds and catapulted to No. 9 among states for jobs created or saved with 22,513, according to data posted on the Recovery.gov stimulus data-tracking Web site. A preliminary estimate released two weeks ago put Michigan about midway among states with just 397 jobs created or saved.

You can track Recovery Act funding for the 7th district by visiting Rep. Schauer's Recovery webpage.

AP: Credit-card rates rise before law changes
Have you checked the interest rates on your credit cards lately? Odds are they're going way up. That's because credit-card companies are rushing to raise rates and tack on extra fees ahead of a law slated to take effect Feb. 22 that is supposed to limit such moves in the future. In some cases, rates are doubling to as high as 30 percent or more, even for people who pay their bills on time. The current maneuvering by the card companies is serving up another blow to American consumers who are already struggling with their finances. U.S. lawmakers let that happen by giving the card companies nine months to prepare for the rules.

On Friday, Mark co-sponsored a bill to freeze unfair credit card interest rate hikes and protect consumers. You can read more about this bill by clicking here.
Comments
The opinions expressed below are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of this office.
  • John Slawinski commented on 11/7/2009
    $236363636 per job is not that impressive. How is a saved job determined, If the stimulus worked so well, How did Ford turn things around without stimulus money while GM and Chrysler still struggle?
  • Sandy Meeks commented on 11/12/2009
    Mark: It is too late for this now. I got notification from all 3 of my credit card issuers of huge interest rate increases 2 weeks ago. All 3 are up to or near 25% now. I have always paid on time and always well in excess of the minimum balance. Your writer is correct, no one can pay off a debt with those kinds of interest rates. I quite likely will have to declare bankruptcy as well. How does it happen that these companies all decide to raise their rates to nearly the same exact rate on the exact day of the same week? Is this some form of collusion? How dare they kick us in the gut after we (the taxpayers) bailed out their butts? I'm just thoroughly disgusted with this industry. Sandy
  • Henry Fenrick commented on 11/12/2009
    I am dissapointed, from all the talk of seeking bi-partisanship there is nothing in the bill that demonstrates the true effort of inclusion the president touted as the cornerstone of his presidency. With all the rehtoric about republicans being in the pocket of the insurance companies, why are the democrates ignoring tort reform?Who's pocket are you in.
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