The bill does not go far enough. The bill does nothing to establish caps on the sometimes outrageous interest rates and fees that banks charge. In fact, in its original language, the bill would prohibit the new agency from establishing usury limits on consumer credit. The scriptures of major religions all forbid the charging of usurious interest rates on loans. Our founding fathers insisted on usury caps of 6 percent, which remained the law of the land for two centuries.
Since the early 1980s, there has not been a national cap and the Supreme Court has ruled that national banks can charge whatever they want as long as the state in which they have their headquarters also has no limit. Since then, the large national banks and credit card companies have run rampant, charging immoral, exorbitant interest rates and fees in excess of 30 percent, and most are doing so out of those few states like Delaware and South Dakota where there are no caps. Someone who needs a credit card to fix his car to get to work should not be charged more than 10 percent. Why? Because 10 percent is enough! Without a cap, banks will continue to find ways to keep consumers in debt slavery.
REV. DAN SMITH
Cambridge
The writer is senior minister at First Church in Cambridge Congregational and is a leader at the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. 
