Treasurer Scott Morrison has promised that credit card providers "will be forced to scrap unfair and predatory practices" under changes to be introduced "before the end of this calendar year".One year to the day after submissions closed on a Treasury consultation paper, Treasurer Scott Morrison has promised that credit card providers "will be forced to scrap unfair and predatory practices within the year"."These measures will deliver the first phase of reforms outlined in the Government's response to the Senate Inquiry into the credit card market," the Treasurer stated in a media release yesterday.The changes flagged by Morrison, summarised below, are in line with those outlined in a consultation paper from the Treasury's Financial Innovation and Payments Unit that was circulated in May last year - that is, to: require that affordability assessments be based on a consumer's ability to repay the credit limit within a reasonable period; ban unsolicited offers of credit limit increases; simplify how interest is calculated; and require online options to cancel cards or to reduce credit limits.Morrison said the changes, designed to improve credit card affordability and reduce the number of cardholders "building up unsustainable debts", would be introduced "before the end of this calendar year".Some in the banking sector were less impressed, including ME Bank, a long-time critic of the current card regime, which alleged that the credit card reforms announced by the Treasurer "don't go far enough and may stifle switching".  ME's head of deposits and transactional banking, Nic Emery, did concede that three of the four reforms announced by the Treasurer would help protect consumers, including banning unsolicited credit increase offers; simplifying interest calculations; and requiring online reduction and cancellation options.The proposal Emery took issue with was: "affordability assessments to be based on a consumer's ability to repay the credit limit within a reasonable period". He said that would do little to protect the majority of those who end up with unpayable credit card debts.And "reasonable period" was not clearly defined - in the UK it is three years.ME's other suggested credit card reforms to go much further than those currently proposed. Their wishlist includes making switching easier "given technology to transfer direct debits isn't complex"; and raising the floor rate for minimum monthly repayments from two per cent, "given we know paying a little bit more each month can save customers handsomely." This last suggestion was canvassed in the 2016 issues paper as "worthy of further consideration", but not implemented this time after objections from the Australian Bankers' Association and a number of credit card providers.