MMA is currently in dialogue with many of the top credit card issuers regarding industry practices that have hurt consumer financial health and contributed to the financial crisis. MMA filed shareholder resolutions on predatory lending at six companies. MMA was the lead filer with American Express and JP Morgan Chase & Co., and leads shareholder discussion with those firms. MMA co-filed shareholder resolutions at Discover, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and actively participates in shareholder engagements with each company.

MMA’s objectives with credit card advocacy are to:

1) Alert management to shareholder concern regarding financial stability and sustainability of current credit card lending practices.

2) Link benefits of short-term, negative credit card policies with long-term risk, in light of sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

3) End misleading and deceptive credit card practices that trap borrowers in a cycle of increasing debt.

4) Transform credit card companies into partners in the restoration of a strong and sustainable consumer economy for their clients and the nation.

MMA believes that fair and responsible management practices would be beneficial for both credit card customers and issuers in the long run, whereas current practices have provided short-term industry profits followed by bankrupt customers and bailout-dependent issuers. New regulations enacted by the Federal Reserve will help build a more responsible marketplace, but these policies will not take effect until July 2010. MMA is encouraging credit card issuers to adopt the new regulations as soon as possible, and to move above and beyond them in certain areas.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 1:40 pm and is filed under MMA, Chris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.