Rights that credit-card users deserve now.(Credit card industry)

More than 5 billion credit-card offers bombarded Americans last year, burying them in paper and, in many cases, debt. Families who carry a credit-card balance now owe, on average, $9,312.

Credit cards come with a cost far higher to consumers than the price of the items they buy. High fees, short grace periods, late fees for payments that were mailed on time but delivered late, and penalties when the consumer has missed a payment on a different card are driving credit-card debt to record levels (see the report on page 12). Consumers Union (publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS), the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Action, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Responsible Lending, and the National Consumer Law Center have called for Congress to enact a variety of strong reforms. Consumers Union believes the following measures are essential:

* Congress should cap interest rates on credit cards at no more than the prime interest rate plus 10 percent. Now, penalty rates can go as high as 35 percent, about 28 points over mid-August's prime rate.

* The first page of every month's bill should state how long it will take and how much it will cost--interest included-to pay off the balance at the minimum payment. A consumer who owes $5,000 on a credit card at an annual percentage rate of 16 percent, and who makes a requested 2 percent minimum payment each month, will need almost 36 years to pay off the balance and will rack up $9,329 in interest.

* The number and types of fees should be restricted to make it easier for consumers to compare cards. Congress should also require that fees be closely related to the actual costs to the card issuer, so that fees don't drive up the true cost of the credit to the consumer.

* Card companies shouldn't be allowed to add new terms and pile on increases after the consumer has signed on. Card companies that raise the interest rate ...