Judge blocks Biden administration rule capping credit card late fees at $8

A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday blocked a new Biden administration rule that would prohibit credit card companies from charging customers late fees higher than $8.

US District Judge Mark T. Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, granted a preliminary injunction to several business and banking organizations that allege the new rule violates several federal statutes.

These organizations, led by the right-leaning US Chamber of Commerce, sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the rule was finalized in March. The rule, which was set to go into effect Tuesday, would save consumers about $10 billion per year by cutting fees from an average of $32, the CFPB estimated.

henfredemars,

Ah yes. Late fees. Something that clearly contributes to our society.

givesomefucks,

Yeah, better than nothing, but wouldn’t have been enough.

Another example why it never pays off to go after moderate solutions. Republicans will fight everything equally as hard, so why not actually try for a lot?

At least then when things actually make it, they cause a difference

Cryophilia,

The things that actually make it trend to be the things that can get enough centrist support to overcome Republicans. Or on the rare occasion when Democrats can cut Republicans out of the process entirely (ie budget reconciliation)

Brosplosion,

Without late fees there is no incentive to pay on time. I don’t understand the rationale to remove them entirely, though regulating maximums makes sense.

a_fancy_kiwi,

I disagree. The 20-30% interest a lot of credit cards have is enough of a reason to pay on time.

Theprogressivist,
@Theprogressivist@lemmy.world avatar

Gotta love how it’s always one asshole judge in Texas that can stop legislation for the whole country.

Snapz,

““Gotta love how it’s always one asshole judge trump appointee in Texas that can stop legislation for the whole country.””

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

It’s a single judge in Texas + an enabling appeallate system

Ranvier, (edited )

Infuriating thing was, this judge was clearly shopped for, but he kicked the case to the DC district Court instead of Texas. He himself even accused the banks of venue shopping in the ruling when he did so! Unfortunately the DC district court sent it right back and said he still had to take the case. He should have recused himself at that pont anyways given his stock holdings and things, but he now decides to reward the the banks for their venue shopping he’s clearly aware of. Judiciary is rotten.

yahoo.com/…/texas-judge-moves-fee-case-232103686.…

breetai,

He just put an injunction in place which is common. It just means the case has to be decided first.

If he’s accusing them of venue shopping. I suspect he’s going to rule against them.

Ranvier,

The legal standard for an injunction also includes a “likelihood of success on the merits.” The judge agrees with the banks in his ruling that they are likely to succeed on the case. So unfortunately the injunction is a signal there is a good chance he rules in the banks favor ultimately. Though he spends a bunch of the ruling just talking about how he’s mad this case was kicked back to him. He only spends like a page talking about if the legal standard for injunction has been met or not.

consumerfinancemonitor.com/…/US_DIS_TXND_4_24cv21…

billiam0202,

Not just likelihood of success, but also whether any irreparable harm could occur while the case is being decided, in the event the case favors the plaintiffs. In this case, if card companies are only allowed to collect $8 while the case is ongoing, and then a judge ruling they are allowed to collect more than that, means there’s a monetary loss that will have happened. Now I wouldn’t be crying if credit card companies are forced to stop ripping people off, and absolutely fuck the Chamber of Commerce, but that’s what it is.

AeroLemming,

What about the irreparable harm caused by outlandish fees, or will they be forced to pay those back?

billiam0202,

Since credit card companies are currently allowed to charge outrageous fees, that would be akin to an ex post facto action so no they wouldn’t. Also while said fees are outrageous, the harm to consumers isn’t relevant because the suit is between credit card companies and the government.

AeroLemming,

That’s sad to hear.

billiam0202,

So keep in mind that harm as a legal concept is not the same as the general definition of harm. In the legal world, harm must be caused by the defendants to the plaintiffs. In this case, the government preventing card companies from collecting outrageous late fees does cause them monetary harm, so the question will be if the government has the right to do so.

AeroLemming,

Oh ok, makes sense.

Ranvier, (edited )

Yes I agree, but it doesn’t just have to meet some of those criteria to get an injunction, it has to meet all those criteria, including likelihood of success. They can’t just argue irreparable harm only if the judge thinks they’re unlikely to succeed. The judge seems to agree with them in that section of the ruling that he thinks that the rule is likely unconstitutional. And conservative judges have been pretty hostile to the consumer financial protection bureau in general. I’m not holding my breath, at least not for this judge, but maybe ultimately on appeal the cfpb will still succeed in the end.

radicalautonomy, (edited )

Guillotines exist for a reason.

Beetlejuice001,

Enough Modern Aristocrats need to feel the heat and things would change

SeattleRain,

The next president needs to pack the Federal court benches. I am getting so tired of right wingnuts upending democracy with these BS rulings.

sparkle, (edited )

This kind of stuff is absolutely the number one failure of Democrats. They want to play fair and by the rules, so when there’s opposition to their appointments they just lie down and accept it until the Republicans get exactly who they want. Meanwhile the Republicans will lie, cheat, and slander their way to anything they want, including getting ultra-conservatives in on positions that aren’t supposed to be political.

Biden’s been way better in this regard which is part of what makes him way better than previous Democrat presidents. But I still don’t have high hopes for “the party of compromise” in getting progressives in these kinds of positions. In particular, we all remember what happened at the end of Obama’s presidency with supreme court judges and Roe v Wade.

Melvin_Ferd, (edited )

Democrats use “fair and by the rules” as an excuse for failing at playing politics. It was clear what was going to happen. Nobody did anything except the Republicans who capitalized everything everywhere for a decade. Democrats and liberals are still unaware what happened

lennybird, (edited )
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

You guys are missing an essential point — conservatives control the narrative.

  • From Fox News blowing MSNBC and CNN out of the water in ratings
  • Right-wing talk radio pioneered by Rush Limbaugh
  • Indoctrination Centers (churches) across America…

Conservatives LONG won the information war.

What does this mean? Republicans can do no wrong while Democrats are held to an infinitely higher standard and anything they do is hammered home to the ignorant, uneducated average American FAR greater than what Democrats can do to the right.

Things have marginally improved in the last 10 years as the recognition of Botherism has expanded, but let’s not forget: (1) Republicans still have the majority of the money, (2) Republicans won huge with Citizens United and SpeechNow decisions, and (3) they’re assholes and assholes will beat you with experience.

Catering to a broader coalition on the left that is also far less confrontational by the nature of being more empathetic is also something that we as a group must come to terms with. Our rallying points have never been blind loyalty and fear-mongering like the Right uses with the literally biochemically-altered conservative brain (studies on MRI testing prove this). We gather strength through vision, hope, solidarity, love — hence why Obama’s Hope & Change message in 2008 was pure genius.

Though I will say I do agree there is a certain type of character we can seek to promote on the left, like AOC, like Bernie, like Warren, and like even Swalwell. Someone not afraid to push the bully back. Hopefully we learned a big lesson from Obama’s era of capitulation and seeing his hand get smacked down over and over as he tried to reach across the aisle.

MrEff,

My personal saying has always been: Democrats rule with incompetence. Republicans rule with spite and malice.

blady_blah, (edited )

OK… so this is weird. The Supreme court just upheld that the funding structure of the CFPB was constitutional overruling the 5th circuit ruling that the CFPB funding structure was unconstitutional… But THIS federal judge just used the 5th court unconstitutionality ruling as the basis for why this CFPB credit card rule was unconstitutional (the CFPB is unconstitutional so any decision they make is invalid). It seems like he’s leaning on a just overturned ruling to make this decision. Is this just a case of a timing error where everything in the credit card fee case was filed before he Supreme Court overruled the 5th circuit’s ruling or is there another argument there?

ryathal,

There’s also a sort of trend where injunctions preserve the status quo. By granting the injunction fees change at most once regardless of the ruling.

Beetlejuice001,

It’s the 1% getting what they paid for.

acetanilide,

Wait, the Chamber of Commerce is conservative? Is that all of them?

nickwitha_k,

US Chamber of Commerce is a Conservative lobby group with a name meant to sound innocuous. Local CoCs run the gamut but are generally for small to mid businesses to network and collectively engage when the local government. Kinda like a union but for bosses.

bradorsomething,

Damn, that’s entirely right, it’s a union for the owner class.

Jimmycakes,

It’s just a made up private company like the better business bureau. The try to seem official or related to government but it’s just another company.

acetanilide,

That makes sense. Thanks

nutsack,

did Joe Biden know he was going to do this

FiniteBanjo,

??? Do what?

The CFPB agency announced it would no longer allow credit card companies to adjust fees based on inflation, a loophole in the CARD act, and then a federal judge appointed by Trump blocked it.

RememberTheApollo_,

Good ol’ Christian Right wanting a Christian Nation while defending banks and ignoring their Jesus who destroyed the money lenders’ tables.

A_Random_Idiot,

It shocks me that people are still shocked that American Christians dont read the bible or have any idea whats in it.

Especially when they, as a group, spend damn near every waking moment violating mathrew 6:5-6:8

RememberTheApollo_,

They read the parts they want. They hear what they’re told to believe by their preachers. In the end it doesn’t matter, they just interpret it how they want and disregard the rest.

starman2112, (edited )
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

The problem is you can interpret it however you want. It’s very easy to justify defying almost any of Christ’s teachings with some fun wordplay. Matthew 6:5-8 is about performative worship, and Christians don’t do performative worship you see, they are actually worshiping so it doesn’t count. Not sure how they weasel themselves out of Matthew 6:14-15 though

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

They probably see the wrong in the money lenders as simply doing their business in the temple, rather than the practice itself.

Huckledebuck,

The one time Jesus got angry. Go figure…

Edit: on record. I guess he could’ve had some pretty terrible 2s, or something, that we don’t know about.

MrMeanJavaBean,

But both sides! They’re the same! Blah blah blah. Politicians are politicians, but the Republicans do absolutely nothing to actually better the lives of their voters. Republicans answer only to the pursuit of absolute power and their wealthy donors. End rant…

Facebones,

And Democrats do nothing to stop them. 🤷

MrMeanJavaBean,

Any suggestions? 🤔

Facebones,

Stop rewarding democrats for barreling further right as fast as they can? 🤷‍♂️

MrMeanJavaBean, (edited )

Too bad that’s not a thing.

Facebones, (edited )

Which only proves that America is already fascist by definition and its time to burn it down.

MrMeanJavaBean,

🤦‍♂️

prole,

US District Judge Mark T. Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump

This is where we share reaping what we sowed with the long term secondary and tertiary damage from electing Donald Trump (and by extension, giving the Federalist Society carte blanche to re-form the judiciary in their hateful, spiteful image). They will continue to happen for decades to come (and will often be blamed on the liberals/progressive currently in power because they’ll be the only ones trying to do anything to fix it).

The future’s looking bright, guys

slingstone,

Aren’t those guys kinda anti-federalist, except where it benefits them?

nicolecooper,

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Akasazh,
@Akasazh@feddit.nl avatar

I don’t think that’s very relevant here Nicole

UraniumBlazer,

I really love how EVERYONE downvoted this. Like EVERYONE

DevilOfDoom,

We need an admin here. Advertising scam.

littlebluespark,
@littlebluespark@lemmy.world avatar

Of course it’s Texas.

massacre,

I remember how frequent “legislating from the bench” came up on the news - Is the GOP up in arms about this one?

Asafum,

“activist judges” was the term I remember, but only when right wingers were projecting complaining about liberal judges…

I hate this timeline so much. Lie lie lie lie lie and get their way.

hglman,

It’s a federal judge, Texas is incidental here

Philippe23,

The 5th circuit is a treasured location to forum shop to get the outcome the plantiffs are looking for.

prospect.org/…/2024-04-15-americas-fifth-circuit-…

Facebones,

Idk if it’s this one, but there’s one Texas county they love ramming these things through because there’s only one judge and he’s a hardcore trumper.

dependencyinjection,

I imagine this judge made a fat stack of cash if this. Even if you delay it a year, think of how much money the banks can make extra.

bane_killgrind,

… 10 billion. It says so in the summary.

MrShankles,

The judge was probably persuaded by 10k only

frostysauce,

It is surprisingly inexpensive to buy a US congressperson or a senator. So yeah, I’d bet less for a judge.

zbyte64,

The going rate is a vacation RV for a SCROTUS. A gift card to the olive garden might be enough for some judges.

MNByChoice,

Any websites that keep score on judges? We may not get to vote on federal judges, but some of us get to on others.

Chef,

Someone needs to build Yelp but for judges.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

See, Biden is doing things. Don’t eat the Russian misinformation troll’s onion.

RedditWanderer,

The Generally Obstructive Party will block this and then specifically bring up he didn’t do shit about it. Their base won’t even check that he tried and will say he tried because he knew it would fail, and they don’t want lower credit card fees anyway.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Not sure if this is a joke or pure delusion

tsonfeir, (edited )
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

The delusion is not paying attention to how many good things the left-wing is trying to pass that the right-wing is stopping.

Stop selling weapons to Israel- proposed by the left, denied by the right.

That popup seaport the left built to get aid to Gaza? Sneakily built by bypassing congress and going through the pentagon.

The list of accomplishments and attempted accomplishments that were shot down is long.

Caps on credit card fees? Left proposed, right killed.

So you go on eating that right-wing dog shit, people who pay attention know it’s all “fake news.”

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

good things the left-wing is trying to pass that the right-wing is stopping

When you can pass bills that can TikTok from the minority by stapling them to foreign military aid, but you can’t expand Medicare or sanction polluters or secure women’s rights to health care or enfranchise DC voters…

This isn’t “the right just sabotaged us!” it’s “the moderates just sided with reactionaries again”.

Caps on credit card fees? Left proposed, right killed.

So much of this boils down to Dems green lighting GOP judicial nominees while Repubs block Dem nominees without consequences.

What is the remedy for this obstruction other than to scream “Vote or things will get worse!” every two years?

The Dens won’t pack the court. They won’t use our majorities when we have them. They won’t stop giving their economic rivals tons of free money. They won’t stop sending cops into university campuses to crack heads.

Throwing up a rule so a Trump judge can skeet shoot it isn’t “doing anything” when you already know the outcome.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

The cops crack heads under any president. You’re rambling.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

The cops crack heads under any president.

One of the significant benefits of the FDR presidency was his refusal to unleash police on labor leaders.

That ended under Truman and J. Edgar Hoover.

You’re rambling.

I’m sorry if a bit of history startled you.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Biden hasn’t unleashed the cops on labor leaders. I think you’re confusing local government with national government. I understand it’s hard for a тролль to understand the intricacies of American politics.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Biden hasn’t unleashed the cops on labor leaders.

The FBI cointelpro program has gone uninterrupted since it’s inception.

I understand it’s hard for a тролль to understand

Doing whataboutism to own the Ruskies

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Ты интернет-тролль, работающий на ФСБ.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Truly a master of Google Translate.

goferking0,

They really think anyone critical is Russian :/

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Obviously.

Furbag,

Also a good example of how executive orders are not the end-all-be-all solution for problems that could in theory be solved by the executive alone. We shouldn’t be blaming Biden for not doing things that ultimately are the responsibility of legislative inaction.

It’s still bullshit that this was blocked, and definitely raises suspicion that the judge in question is bought and paid for by the banking industry, or at the very least, a Trump appointee who doesn’t think twice about looking the other way if it helps Don the Con.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

I think we can see that a good number of the people in power within the US have been bought by corporations. Those people, and their corporate masters, need to be culled.

JovialMicrobial,

I just looked up how US citizens can fight judicial corruption and apparently corrupt judges can be reported to the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Transparency International or the Judicial Integrity Network.
Maybe we should start reporting every judge that pulls crap like this to these agencies. Maybe something will actually change if/when investigations start happening.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

They should be. But the whole place is bought.

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