Consumers hoping for relief from credit card interest rate hikes will have to wait a few months longer. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans put a “hold” on a bill to freeze credit card interest rates immediately, in order to avoid further rate hikes before February 22, 2010 when the new Credit CARD Act steps into effect. The hold on the bill effectively freezes it, and for the time being, prevents further debate and a vote on the measure.

The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Chris Dodd (D.-Conn), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and Mark Udall (D.-Colo) in response to recent consumer outcry over aggressive credit card rate hikes over the past six months. Under the new Credit CARD Act, which was signed into law in May of this year, credit card companies can only raise interest rates on existing credit card debt if the cardholder is more than 60 days behind with payments. Car

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