Two New Credit Card Rules Set to Take Effect
Starting tomorrow (Thursday) two new Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act rules will be going into effect. These rules were created to help protect consumers and force credit card issuers to follow better guidelines.
The two new credit card rules:
- Credit-card issuers must give cardholders at least 45 days’ notice before changing their interest rate or fees paid. This grace period is currently only 15 days.
- Banks will have to mail out their billing statements at least 21 days before their due date. Currently they only have to mail out statement 14 days in advance.
Alongside these new rules going live there are several others rules as mentioned in the CARD act that will be going into effect onn February 22nd 2010. From today’s SmartMoney,
The rest of the legislation’s reforms — which include ending double-cycle billing, applying payments to the highest-rate portion of a balance first and setting a deadline of 5 p.m. EST for on-time payments — won’t take effect until Feb. 22, 2010. “This [first] round is like the sneak preview at the movies,” says John Ulzheimer, the president of consumer education for Credit.com, an advocacy group. “It’s the stuff that’s easy to comply with.”
What the CARD Act doesn’t do though is stop credit card issuers from ramping up their miscellaneous fees, raising interest rates, and slashing credit limits on many of their card holders. Consumers should always read through the fine print before opening any new credit card.
Source:
How New Credit-Card Rules Affect Your Wallet
Kelli Grant
SmartMoney.com, August 19th 2009
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