Just when it seemed like the House and Senate were fully committed to treating credit card companies like child molesters get treated by other prison inmates, they ease up off the throttle.

While it seemed at one point very likely that Congress would get real gangsta and move up the effective date of legislation prohibiting banks from (among other things) raising interest rates on existing balances of certain credit cards unless the customer is two months late in paying the bill, those hopes are dwindling. Whether it’s because of too many higher priorities or too many steak dinners from the financial sector lobby, the little man is again out in the cold for now.

The new rules were signed off on in May by President Obama, and were set to go into effect on Feb. 22, 2010. But with the public sentiment clearly on their site, Congress floated the notion of moving up that effective date.

Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that credit card companies started hiking rates almost immediately to lock in their profits before the new law kicked in.

A measure was passed in the House of Representatives to move up the start date to take effect right away but the Senate has introduced a different version of the legislation and with the current debates on war funding and healthcare, there has been little enthusiasm to take up the House bill. Last week, Senator Chris Dodd of  Connecticut tried to move this agenda forward but he was thwarted by Republicans in the chamber.

This means that any congressional effort to provide immediate protection for consumers during this holiday shopping season is all but a dream.

What that all means is that you must still monitor your credit card statements and inserts for any funny business, create a good budget for the next few months of holiday spending and use cash and debit cards whenever possible for your holiday shopping.

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