Wells Fargo and Co Raise Interest Rates Despite the Odds

In spite of the ultimatum issued by Representative Barney Frank, which serves as a warning to the rampant practice of large banks hiking their interest rates during the grace period given by the Congress, there are still banks doing the exact same thing. This is a strong indication that some of the banks operating in America are still adamant about increasing their interest rates as much as they can, despite the threat to move the enactment of the dreaded credit card Bill from February 2010 to as early as December 2009.

The hearing last Thursday showcased Representative Frank's sentiments regarding the moving of the bill's enactment to a much earlier date. Representative Frank outlines how the need to protect consumer rights should not be delayed any longer and that February 2010 is just too far off a schedule for the enactment of the bill. True to common observation, Wells Fargo and Co gave out its announcement to increase the interest rates of their active credit card accounts. This announcement was given to the public shortly after Bank of America Corp issued their public statement stating that they have no plans of increasing their interest rates until the implementation of the new bill.

Following the statement given by Wells Fargo and Co, an interest hike of as high as 3% is expected to hit the majority of the credit enterprise's card accounts. Wells Fargo and Co cardholders were notified that the implementation of this interest hike would take place on the 30th of November. This is especially upsetting to Representative Frank and his colleagues in the Congress, seeing that they moved for the enactment of the bill to be pushed to December 1, 2009. The timing here just cannot be attributed to coincidence and is even viewed by most people in the industry to be the credit enterprise's notorious effort to spite the implementation of the new bill. Inasmuch as the new bill would place stiffer limitations on banks and credit networks when it comes to raising charging fees and interest rates, Wells Fargo and Co decides to make an extremely noticeable stand against it.

Kevin Rhein, Wells Fargo's Head of Card Services, strongly defends the enterprise's move to increase interest rates, saying that this move has no association with Representative Frank's move to enact the bill earlier than planned. According to Rhein, Wells Fargo has long considered implementing a hike increase for quite some time already. It is just now that the company decided to push through with the move, seeing that it cannot maintain healthy competition amongst its competitors without doing so.

Doug Nicholas

Doug Nicholas, a financial consultant by profession with a Masters degree in International Business from Brown University, is also an ardent writer. Though he has a full time job at one of the companies listed on Wall Street, he does manage to squeeze in time to follow his passion. He puts his ideas to words in his articles related to finance and business.