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All rights reserved.Media Contact:Tiffany AndersonSterling Communications for SOURCEiStreamPlanetTiffany Anderson of Sterling Communications, +1-408-884-5163,, for iStreamPlanet. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The final score was 1-1, consumers versus bankers, on Thursday as U.S. lawmakers voted on bills affecting credit cards and mortgage bankruptcy law.The votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate highlighted the political complexities facing the Obama administration and congressional Democrats as they pursue an ambitious agenda to reform financial regulation.Rich nations worldwide are tightening oversight of their financial systems to prevent future credit crises like the one currently dragging down economies worldwide. But progress in the United States has been only halting so far.”It’s one step forward and one step backward,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America, a public advocacy group.”Congress is moving in fits and starts to reregulate the financial services industry and the banking lobby still has tremendous clout,” he said.The House, firmly under Democratic control, voted to approve a bill that would shield consumers from hidden credit card fees and sudden interest-rate hikes. This bill will raise the price of credit for consumers and limit their access to credit.”MORTGAGE CRAMDOWN DEFEATEDIn the more narrowly divided Senate, a bill that would let bankruptcy court judges alter the terms of mortgages to aid troubled homeowners was rejected 51-45, with several Democrats breaking ranks to vote against the measure.The Senate’s rejection effectively kills the bill for now.From its start months ago, the real estate slump has hit some regions harder than others That division was reflected in the Senate vote. Half of the Democrats who voted against the bill represent states with extremely low foreclosure rates.But the other half come from states where foreclosures are high, reflecting nothing more than the political power of the banking industry, Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement.”It is confounding that the banks opposed this to the very end since the proposal would have helped them by finding a floor in the housing market.

Clearly the banks had enough clout to defeat this bill, certainly more than the 1.7 million homeowners who would have been helped by it,” Schumer said.Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter voted against the bill, known as the “cramdown” proposal because it would let judges reduce the principal levels on mortgages.Specter’s dramatic party switch to Democrat from Republican this week had briefly elated financial reform advocates because it brought the Democrats one vote closer to Senate control. But on cramdown, at least, Specter was not a “game changer.”Ginna Green, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending, a homeowner advocacy group, summed it up succinctly:”Today was a mixed bag Consumers, one. Industry, one.”(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh; Editing by Jan Paschal). NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) – New Yorkers will not have topay higher personal income taxes because the state has”pre-empted” that strategy by raising its own levy, MayorMichael Bloomberg said on Friday as he issued his budget plan Bonds  |  Global Markets The mayor, an independent seeking a third term in November,said that narrowing future deficits will require city employeeunions to accept higher health care costs and lower pensionsfor new hires. He also said the state should approve measuressuch as a half percentage point hike in the city’s sales tax,to 4.5 percent. The mayor raised his forecast for city-wide job-losses inthe current recession to 328,000 positions — a 34,000 increasefrom several months ago.

But he did not raise his estimate thatthe Wall Street financial industry will lose 47,000 jobs. (Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Dan Grebler) Bonds Global Markets. NEW YORK (Reuters) – MasterCard Inc posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday but said revenue growth this year will fall short of its targets, sending its shares down 7 percent in afternoon trading. BrazilThe world’s second-largest credit card network said lower expenses and increased fees helped first-quarter results.Net income fell 18 percent to $367 million, or $2.80 per share, from $447 million, or $3.37 per share, a year earlier. But the results beat Wall Street expectations.Analysts, on average, forecast earnings of $2.62 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.The company’s bigger rival, Visa Inc, beat Wall Street earnings expectations earlier this week, helped by higher fees, lower expenses and increased use of its debit cards by consumers.”People were generally encouraged with Visa (and) that added some momentum to MasterCard,” said Ken Crawford, senior portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.MasterCard shares climbed to a seven-month high on Thursday, a day after Visa released its earnings.MasterCard is partially insulated from the credit crisis because it processes transactions rather than lends funds. But the company has seen a slowdown in the growth of revenue and transaction volumes as battered consumers used their credit cards less.”Visa has more debit (business), and most people think that debit is less discretionary and is a more stable method for payment, while credit is for things you may or may not buy,” Crawford said.Unlike Visa, MasterCard relies more on credit than on debit cards, which is a tough business when consumers are scaling back debt and banks shrink lending.MasterCard’s first-quarter U.S.

credit volume fell 17.2 percent, compared to an 11.4 percent decline last quarter, while U.S. debit volume grew 5.6 percent, in line with the levels of the previous quarter.Credit and charge programs accounted for 67 percent of the gross dollar volume of MasterCard, while the remaining 33 percent was related to debit cards.In addition, mounting pressure from Washington for credit card companies to slash fees and interest rates could takes its toll on card networks, as it could slow growth in an industry that developed rapidly before the financial crisis.MasterCard shares were down 7.8 percent at $169.15 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are up 25 percent this year.REVENUE UNDER PRESSURENet revenue fell 2.2 percent to $1.2 billion, as the strong dollar impacted revenue generated overseas.Selander said U.S. dollar appreciation — especially against the euro and the Brazilian real — cut revenue growth by 4 percentage points in the first quarter, and estimated a similar impact in the rest of 2009.MasterCard said net revenue growth this year will fall short of its long-term goal of 12 percent to 15 percent.Operating expenses decreased 10.8 percent as MasterCard trimmed advertising and marketing spending by 35 percent, tightened travel expenses 64 percent and slashed consulting fees. The company also cut 130 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce.MasterCard forecast 2009 operating expenses would be flat to slightly lower compared with last year, including the impact of all severance charges.Chief Executive Robert Selander said the U.S. economy faces a “very challenging” second quarter, with deeper deterioration of the housing market and higher unemployment.”If you think about housing, it looks like the housing situation is still, at least in the U.S., deteriorating …