Key Information About Credit Cards

Set out below are links to webpages that will provide you with key information about credit cards in Canada:

• Know Your Rights About Your Credit Cards, Calculate Credit Card Costs, and Other Credit Card Information (Link takes you to a webpage on the website of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, a federal government agency responsible for protecting financial consumers)
• Summary of 1997 Federal Government Committee Study of Credit Cards (NOTE: the study was never completed, and no committee nor agency or department of the Canadian federal government studied credit cards from 1997 until spring 2009 when a Senate committee (from March 25 to May 7) and House of Commons joint committee (from May 12 on -- click here if other link does not work) finally studied the issue in response to growing concern that millions of Canadians and Canadian businesses are being gouged by excessive credit card interest rates and fees)
• CBC.ca article about gouging of retail companies by credit card companies

• TESTIMONY: Duff Conacher on the need for an independent audit of bank profits and other key bank accountability measures before the Joint House of Commons Finance/Industry committees (June 2, 2009)
• TESTIMONY: Duff Conacher on the need for an independent audit of bank profits and other key bank accountability measures before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce (April 2, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Conservatives' Proposed Credit Card Regulations Too Little, Too Late to Protect Finance Consumers From Being Gouged (VUE Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta weekly newspaper), May 28, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' proposed credit card regulations too little, too late to protect financial consumers from gouging (National Post (Jonathan Chevreau's column), May 22, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' proposed credit card regulations too little, too late to protect financial consumers from gouging (CBC.ca, May 22, 2009)
• NEWS RELEASE: Conservatives' Proposed Credit Card Regulations Too Little, Too Late to Protect Finance Consumers From Being Gouged -- Comprehensive Audits, and New Financial Consumer Watchdog Groups, Needed For Effective Bank and Financial Services Industry Accountability (May 22, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Question remains whether federal Conservatives will take action to protect Canadians from credit-card gouging by the big banks and other companies (Toronto Star, May 16, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Coalition calls for government audit of banks credit card and overall lending practices (Canada.com, National Post and 2 other CanWest News Service newspapers, April 1-2, 2009) -- To see related article published on Canada.com and 12 other CanWest News Service newspapers across Canada, click here (April 2-3, 2009)
• TESTIMONY: Duff Conacher on the need for an independent audit of bank profits and other key bank accountability measures before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce (April 2, 2009)
• RADIO INTERVIEW: Interview on CBC Radio's "As It Happens" show (March 30, 2009) with Democracy Watch Coordinator and Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition (CCRC) Chairperson Duff Conacher re: NEWS RELEASE: Coalition Calls on Federal Government to Get Tough on Unfair Bank Gouging and Cutting of Lending and Services -- Comprehensive Audits, and New Financial Consumer Watchdog Groups, Needed For Effective Bank and Financial Services Industry Accountability (March 4, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Credit card defaults likely to increase, companies increasing interest rates but government still not requiring them to prove it is necessary (Toronto Star and Hamilton Spectator, February 4, 2009)
  
• NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives Continue Negligence of Federal Governments Over Past 20 Years By Giving Financial Institutions Billions But Doing Nothing to Stop Their Unfair Gouging and Cutting of Loans and Services --  Comprehensive Audits, and New Financial Consumer Watchdog Groups Needed For Effective Bank and Financial Services Industry Accountability (January 30, 2009)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Canada's big banks lobbying against possible audits to determine extent credit card customers are gouged (Canada.com and National Post, January 26, 2009)
• TV FEATURE: Federal government has been negligent in not regulating credit card promotions and interest rates by banks and other companies (CBC TV's The National, January 7, 2009)
• NEWS RELEASE: Scrooge Banks Will Gouge Canadians and Cut Services to Recover Their $16 Billion in Losses and Writedowns Unless Federal Government Finally Audits Charges, Interest Rates, Lending Records and Competition Levels -- New Financial Consumer Watchdog Groups Needed to Watch Banks and Investment Industry (December 16, 2008)
  
• NEWS RELEASE: Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Must, At The Very Least, Require Banks To Prove Their Credit Card Interest Rates and Service Charges are Fair -- Mergers Not in Public Interest -- Competition, Service Study Needed If Merger Ban Reconsidered (January 21, 2008)
• NEWS RELEASE: If Conservative Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Doesn’t Act Now, Big Banks Will Recoup Their $2 Billion in Losses By Increasing Gouging, Cutting Loans to Creditworthy Businesses, and Continuing Excessively Risky Investing (December 6, 2007)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Banks pay credit card companies 1% to calculate currency exchange rate on out-of-country purchases, and then overcharge their customers 2.5% (CTV's "Canada AM", September 5, 2007 -- NOTE: video of interview on webpage link takes you to)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Banks pay credit card companies 1% to calculate currency exchange rate on out-of-country purchases, and then overcharge their customers 2.5% (CBC TV's "The National", September 3, 2007 -- NOTE: video of news piece on webpage link takes you to)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Banks' credit card operations charge a special extra fee to calculate the exchange rate on purchases made in other countries, a fee that is likely pure gouging  (Winnipeg Free Press, August 22, 2007)
• WEBSITE ARTICLE: Duff Conacher on CBC TV's Marketplace Calling for Federal Government Review of Bank Credit Card Interest Rates (February 27, 2005)
• NEWS RELEASE: Government Talk Cheaper Than Credit Cards, Coalition Calls For Action on Record High Interest Rates (April 8, 2002)