Earlier today, Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. The bill will end some of the worst abuses of the credit card industry by creating protections for borrowers – especially young people and students.

This represents one of the first times that Congress has ever taken on the credit card industry. As Ed Mierzwinski—long-time consumer advocacte with US PIRG—wrote in his blog yesterday:

I’ve been in Washington twenty years. For the first 19 we couldn’t even get a committee vote on credit card reform despite these practices.

Campus Progress released a statement, along with a factsheet on young people and credit card debt, when the bill was passed:

Credit Card Bill will Help Young People & Students

Today Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights by a margin of 361-64 in the House of Representatives, following yesterday’s vote of 90 to 5 in the Senate. The President is expected to sign the bill on Friday afternoon. “By passing this legislation, Congress took a big step toward extending basic protections to all credit card borrowers, especially young people and students,” said Erica Williams, Deputy Director of Campus Progress, who testified before the House Financial Services Committee on this issue last summer on behalf of Campus Progress Action.

[Click here to read the full statement & factsheet]

Campus Progress Action also participated in a press conference call on Monday with other student organizations. You can listen to the recording online.