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LISA MULLINS: Mexicans are grappling with a less dire but no less immediate threat than swine flu – credit cards. It's an issue President Obama is pushing in this country. He wants Congress to pass legislation that would tighten the reins on the credit card industry. The President's targets include sudden rate hikes and unfair penalties. The complaints are similar in Mexico. In fact, credit card have become a campaign issue there. The World's Lorne Matalon introduces us now to one Mexican who learned about those high penalties the hard way.

LORNE MATALON: Jose Avina Picasso, 56 years old, drives a taxi. He says, “For them, the banks, it's good. For us using credit cards, it's not.” “One needs money and it's easy to take the credit card and go shopping. Personally, I use it only for food and medicine,” he says. But even though he says he's used his credit card carefully, Avina did miss one payment. The penalty raised his balance by 60 percent. He's paid up now, but millions are not. For example, nearly 10 percent of Mexican cardholders fell delinquent on their payments in February – almost double the US rate. Analysts say Mexico's interest rates are among the world's highest, with banks earning 10 times on interest rates and penalties what they pay out on deposits. “It's an abuse,” says Avina. Javier Appellaniz manages a successful multinational gift company. He's also a trained economist. He says what's happening to millions of inexperienced, first-time Mexican cardholders is shameful. He says banks treat everyone the same when it comes to credit: poorly. An example? His company's credit history is stellar. But, he says, his bank won't extend credit these days, even as Mexico's seven major banks continue to make healthy profits.

JAVIER APPELLANIZ: It has no economic explanation. The banks in Mexico make more money in commissions and in credit cards than they do helping industry develop making new business. We don't have that many banks in Mexico, so they use really high rates. It's not a real competition. It's not a real open market.

MATALON: Under public pressure from activists, the Catholic Church, even Mexico's richest man, Carlos Slim, the Mexican Congress just passed a law. It will allow the Central Bank to set interest rates, commissions, and fees on credit cards. The Mexican Banking Association has condemned the law. Association spokesman Guillermo Alarcon says it will hit the poor the hardest because banks will be even more reluctant to lend to anyone without excellent credit if the banks know they no longer can charge high fees for late payments.

GUILLERMO ALARCON: If we set rate ceilings, we're going to leave out a good number of Mexicans, especially poor people without access to credit.

MATALON: Another reason credit cards have become politicized: banks have become a target in fiercely nationalistic Mexico. 5 of the country's top 7 banks are foreign-owned. For The World, I'm Lorne Matalon, in Mexico City.

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