The Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act of 2007 may be some of the best news consumers have had in a long time.

Introduced by Senators Carl Levin and Claire McCaskill, the bill would put legislation in place to halt the most abusive practices of credit card lenders, some of which actually prevent a consumer from ever paying off the debt. The legislation could save consumers millions of dollars in unfair penalties, fees and interest.

If a credit card holder pays off a portion of the debt during a grace period, the bill would prevent the lender from charging interest on the paid-off portion of the charges. It also restricts the charging of repeated over-limit fees for a single instance of exceeding the credit card’s limit. Additionally, lenders would be prohibited from charging interest on over-limit and late fees.

As to penalty rates on interest, those that are incurred by late payments, there is a cap that prohibits lenders from raising the interest rate by more than 7 points, eliminating double and triple interest rate hikes that could be charged after only one late payment.

Read the provisions of the proposed bill:

Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act of 2007

Higher gas prices are not just hitting Americans in the wallets, they are hitting them in the attitude too. In addition to finding that 60 percent of employees say that buying gas has reduced the amount of money they have to spend on other things, a study at Florida State University found that the most affected by gas prices were more likely to be experiencing stress both on and off the job.

The greatest effect was distraction on the job caused by worrying about financial matters. Most employees didn’t think the company was sacrificing due to the rising gas prices and were less committed to their jobs. Employees felt alone in their sacrifices as gas prices took a bigger chunk of their paychecks.

Those personally affected by gas prices who did not see the company sacrificing were less committed to getting things done while at work. Compared to those who felt that their company was doing without, those who felt alone in their sacrifice:

* Were 15 percent less committed to the company.

* Had job performance levels that were 12 percent lower.

* Were 20 percent less willing to stay late or work extra if needed.

* Were 25 percent less likely to give “maximum effort.”

Higher gas prices leave many workers running on empty

The stereotypical image of a hacker is a guy who spends all his time holed up in his bedroom or den, fingers flying over the keyboard while red, bleary eyes, kept open only by continuous doses of Jolt cola, search the monitor for opportunities to ply his trade.

Not so anymore, hackers are getting out and about these days and practicing a more outdoorsy kind of hobby: drive-by hacking.

Wi-Fi makes it possible for drive-by hackers to park near wi-fi hotspots and steal data from unsuspecting computer and laptop users. According to a story at Consumer Affairs, the huge data loss suffered by TJ Maxx has been identified as being the work of drive-by hackers.

TJ Maxx was using an old protocol for its network that was notoriously simple to hack. Add to that the fact that TJ Maxx didn’t use encryption when sending data from transactions to banks and the theft was almost too easy. Using stolen credit card and debit card numbers, the hackers were able to counterfeit credit cards and purchase Wal-Mart gift cards. They redeemed the gift cards for thousands of dollars in merchandise.

Gas prices keep going up and the average price for a gallon is now over $3 for most of the United States. Summer is peak driving season and the demand for gas goes up.

Consumers will continue to buy gas because they need it. The prediction is that summer prices will break all records. They already have in California where gas is over $4 in one location.

Oil companies are blaming the necessity of retooling refineries to meet environmental regulations for the low supply that is driving the high prices. But do we really believe that the oil companies are going to dry up on the gas supply?

The AAA warns that prices may rise another 15 to 20 cents before they peak at the end of May.