[Update: corrected Levin URL] The Federal Reserve Board has proposed new credit card disclosures, in a multi-part document that's even longer and often more obtuse than the average credit card contract. As I told syndicated columnist Kathy Kristof of the LA Times (reg. may be req'd), even improved disclosures are not enough: "Telling you that you are about to be ripped off is not a consumer protection." The Fed rules, when they take effect, will require card companies to make more and earlier disclosures before adverse changes in terms. But the Fed would not ban retroactive interest rate increases that apply to previous balances, would not limit interest rates that now jump over 30% APR, would not prohibit universal default, and would not (at least the part I've read so far) ban any other unfair practices that have left consumers on a debt treadmill. That's why we need Senator Carl Levin, the new sheriff in town, and other members of Congress to keep pushing for real reforms. Of course, as I suggest in the title of this blog entry, it takes a lot of obnoxious corporate behavior to move the chains even an inch toward the consumer goal line down at Fed HQ in Foggy Bottom. When the banks get the Fed's attention with their deceptive practices, it's time for Congress to act.