
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 17, 1992                   TAG: 9203170214
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

CREDIT-CARD BILL DRAWS VETO

Gov. Douglas Wilder on Monday vetoed a bill that would have eliminated grace periods on credit cards, a decision that a bank lobbyist said could force some financial institutions to move credit-card operations out of state.

But the head of a consumers' group applauded the veto and said the banking industry is exaggerating the number of jobs it could lose because of Wilder's decision.

The governor told a State Capitol news conference that he could not sign the credit-card measure because it would create further hardship for Virginia consumers during the recession.

"I have a responsibility to protect the consumer interests of citizens, especially when many of them are being crunched with stagnant wages, or as in a growing number of cases, have no job at all."

The credit-card bill would have eliminated a 25-day grace period that consumers are allowed before they start to incur interest charges on their credit-card purchases.

"This is simply not fair to the working Virginian who pays his or her bills on time at the end of the month and is not using the card for revolving credit," he said.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Lewis Parker, D-Mecklenburg, was strongly supported by the Virginia Banking Association, a lobbying group that represents 182 commercial banks in the state.

"We are extremely disappointed," Leland Harding, vice president of the group, said of Wilder's veto. "There are only about seven states that really regulate the credit-card business like Virginia does."

He said Wilder's action could force Virginia credit-card operators to relocate in states that don't have such regulation.

"The hope was the governor would sign the bill so that wouldn't have to be considered," he said. "But many of those people who want to be in this line of business will have to look at what they need to do to remain competitive in the national market."

Harding estimated as many as 2,200 jobs are directly tied to the credit-card industry in Virginia.

Jean Ann Fox, president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, said she believes those estimates are high.

"We don't think there were very many jobs at stake to begin with because consumers are protected in Virginia," she said. "Even if there are a few, they are not worth what it would have cost Virginia in all the limits being removed."

She said now is not the time to do away with the "few remaining protections that consumers have."

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