House Bill 1292 Fights Credit Card Blacklist Discrimination

American Express cheated him

For those of us who have ever been stung by the deceptive or outright harmful practices of credit card companies before, NewCreditRules.com’s Kevin Johnson is in our corner. As he shows us, personal loans are a much safer route for emergency funds than the old plastic.

Recently, he shared his insight on a bill that would prohibit the practice of “blacklisting” in Maryland. In fact, he even testified to the value of House Bill 1292: Consumer Protection - Blacklist Prevention before legislators in Washington, D.C.

Blacklisting is a discriminatory data-mining practice in which card companies decrease a customer’s line of credit because they decide that the establishments where customers are shopping with their card don’t meet standards of acceptability.

What?

It sounds ridiculous, but it happened to Johnson. He received a letter from American Express, explaining that they reduced his line of credit by almost 65 percent because “other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with American Express.” After checking thoroughly, Johnson found no item in his contract with American Express that stipulated they reserved the right to do such a thing. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "House Bill 1292 Fights Credit Card Blacklist Discrimination"