Millions of Americans with credit card debt should welcome the efforts in Congress to end what have been described as unfair and deceptive credit card industry practices, even if those efforts leave some room for followup action.

Friday's approval by the Federal Reserve of rules constituting what is being regarded as the biggest clampdown on the credit card industry in decades should spur congressional action to put the rules in force as quickly as possible.

The banking industry isn't happy about what's taking place, but credit card companies' insatiable desire to exact more and more in fees and interest from even their most credit-worthy, responsible and reliable customers demands that the brakes be applied to that greed.

The credit card companies themselves are in a big way responsible for the payment problems millions of their customers are encountering.

Just like the outrage that was directed at the credit card companies for the practice of increasing interest rates on a borrower because of a supposed problem with another creditor or a drop in the borrower's credit score, the latest focus of attention is looking squarely at a situation that is real — and that should not exist.

Congress should not be deterred by scare tactics being put forth by the American Bankers Association and others who are predicting higher interest rates and less consumer credit.

"If card companies cannot fully reflect risk, then millions of consumers with good credit histories will end up with higher rates," said Edward L. Yingling, ABA president and chief executive officer.

But that statement doesn't square with what's been happening for years. Even those with excellent credit histories are being "hit" a number of times each year with changes in the terms of their credit card account, virtually none of them to the credit card holders' benefit.

The term "insatiable greed" might be too mild of a description of the tactics in play.

Among the rules that it is believed could be finalized by the end of the year are prohibiting credit card issuers from raising interest rates retroactively on pre-existing balances and prohibiting credit card companies from placing unfair time constraints on payment.

The proposals also would restrict lenders' practice of allocating all payments to balances with lower interest rates when a borrower has balances with different rates. Meanwhile, credit card companies also would be prohibited from unfairly computing balances in a tactic known as double-cycle billing.

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, said the proposed rules "are intended to establish a new baseline for fairness in how credit card plans operate." He said consumers using credit cards "should be better able to predict how their decisions and actions will affect their costs."

Consumer groups and lawmakers concerned about the credit card industry's increasingly greedy practices, while upbeat about the proposals on the legislative table, are justifiably concerned whether the new rules can be finalized soon enough to help the millions of households struggling with credit card debt.

One way to expedite passage of the new rules would be for Congress to remain in session this summer until the credit card issue is resolved. The issue is that important.

But credit card holders shouldn't hold their breath regarding the prospects of that happening, despite the good that could emanate from that work.

Perhaps the progress made toward resolving the credit card mess should be one of the things voters remember on Nov. 4 — Election Day.