As we ring in the New Year, the Wall Street Journal reports, “The Credit Card Act signed into law last year [in 2009] was supposed to stop financial institutions from sleazy antics. But, instead, some retailers say, it may restrict stay-at-home moms.”

The Journal writes that the Federal Reserve has been “implementing” and “clarifying” aspects of the Credit Card Act, which President Obama signed into law, and that the Fed has now proposed a rule, which – in the Journal’s words – “would require credit card-issuers to consider only a borrower’s ‘independent’ income rather than household income” in determining whether to issue a store credit card. This could “make it difficult for some consumers to get credit on the spot, especially stay-at-home moms.”