US thrift regulator approves credit card reforms

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) on Thursday approved a plan to limit what it called "unfair or deceptive" billing practices by credit card companies.

The proposal would generally prohibit credit card companies from increasing the annual percentage rate on a customer's outstanding balance, the agency said in a statement. It would also ban companies from reaching back to prior billing cycles when calculating the amount of interest charges in the current cycle, a practice known as double-cycle billing.

Two other U.S. banking regulators, the Federal Reserve Board and the National Credit Union Administration, are expected to soon approve the same proposal. After reviewing comments on the plan from industry, consumer groups and others, the three agencies aim to finalize the rule by the end of 2008, the OTS said.

Among the biggest issuers of Visa Inc (V.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) credit cards are Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Discover Financial Services (DFS.N: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Andrea Ricci)