Yesterday the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights, which will strengthen consumers getting raw deals from the Big Banks. The New York Times reports:

The 90-to-5 vote, following a 357-to-70 vote in the House on April 30, made it likely that President Obama will have a measure on his desk before the Memorial Day recess. The differences between the House and Senate versions will have to be worked out, but given the political atmosphere it seems likely that the House-Senate negotiations will move quickly.

"This bill cleans up the fine print so consumers can't get blind-sided by their credit card companies," Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, said recently in urging passage.

SEIU activists placed hundreds of calls to key senators in support of the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights in the last week. "It's not only unethical to trap people in an unending cycle of credit card debt--it's also fundamentally unsustainable," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger after the vote. This important change couldn't come soon enough. Americans are hurting under predatory practices from credit card companies. The NY Times details:

Credit card debt has increased by 25 percent in the last decade, with delinquency rates up by more than a third since 2006, according to statistics cited by the White House. Americans pay $15 billion in penalty fees a year, accounting for about 10 percent of the industry's revenues. About one-fifth of those carrying credit card debt pay more than 20 percent in interest.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill soon after the vote. For more on this important victory, watch Senator Chris Dodd talk on CBS' Early Show this morning: