New Credit Card Law Effective Tomorrow (Monday, February 22)

The Credit CARD Act -- which stands for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 20009 -- goes into effect tomorrow, Monday, February 22, 2010, one year after its enactment. Among other
things, it enacts these key changes (call them "reforms" if you like them, and "deforms" if you don't):

1 - It generally bans "universal default" -- that is, companies cannot raise rates on one credit card account (or all of a consumer's other accounts) just because the consumer was late or missed a payment on another, separate account.

2 - Generally, promotional (so-called "teaser") rates must last at least 6 months.

3 - Generally, credit card companies cannot charge fees for charging over the card's credit limit.  (Of course, watch for increases in rates or other fees to make up for this loss of revenue.)

4 - Billing statements will disclose penalties for late payments and warn about other ramifications of delinquency (such as higher interest rates).

5 - Significant new restrictions on credit card companies' right to market to and contract with people under age 21 (including adults between ages 18 and 21).

Today's Washington Post has a series of articles on the new law, all linkable from here.

Comments

[divorce saloon]

Credit card debt, and spending behind a spouse's back are big marriage deal breakers and it is one of the main form of "financial infidelity." Divorce Saloon discussed this issue this week. Read here
http://www.divorcesaloon.com/is-mounting-credit-card-debt-driving-you-and-your-spouse-to-divorce

Hopefully this legislation will help a little. Probably won't help a lot if the marriage is already strained beyond repair. But any help is plenty help these days.

http://www.divorcesaloon.com/is-mounting-credit-card-debt-driving-you-and-your-spouse-to-divorce

[settling credit card debt]

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[Black Credit Card]

It is about time that better legislation is introduced to control credit card vendor behaviours

[Shelly Gainer]

I didn't realize that these "tease" rates had to be at least 6 months.. That's good.. but I think a year minimum would be more appropriate. By the way, great pic! :)

[Shelly Gainer]

I don't understand how these credit card companies think that they can get away with charging us an annual fee. That's not right.

[creditcards]

Thank you for your information. The issue of credit cards should not burden consumers. I will learn a good problem consumer rights.

[Stanley Gallor]

The new credit card laws should make things a little easy for the debtors. Although there are things a debtor must be wary of, the new law mostly aims at keeping the finances afloat. This is a serious endeavor made by the Federal government to ensure that there is fair practice of borrowing and lending without any one taking advantage of the other. http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/blog/2010/03/05/new-credit-card-laws-effect-customers

[credit card for students]

the new credit card act could be not so good news for a few students who are below 21 yrs old since they can't acquire a student credit card without a co-signer or proof of independent income. But let's consider the benefit of it. A credit card can help a student learn the true meaning of being responsible but let us not forget that many other people who encountered bad credit because of improper credit card use. Bear in mind that how you manage your account can affect your credit history.

[Ritamoreno]

It is about time that better legislation is introduced to control credit card vendor behaviours.

0% apr credit card

[Generic Viagra]

Historical names for February include the Anglo-Saxon terms Solmonath (mud month) and Kale-monath (named for cabbage) as well as Charlemagne's designation Hornung. In Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl"; when snow melts on tree branches,

[Compare Credit Cards]

there are things a debtor must be shy of, the new law mostly aims at duty the finances floating. This is a sedate endeavour prefabricated by the Federal governing to secure that there is reasonable activity of appropriation and loaning without any one taking vantage.
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smith

[christophob]

Many people don't know the usage of credit card.It is our best friend if we use it properly.It is wise to approach debt settlement companies to negotiate credit card debt.

[Shawn01]

hi all,
I’ve heard of “Credit Cards” from this blog and I want to thank you for sharing it with us.
=================================================================
Shawn
Credit Cards

[http://www.mastercreditcard.net]

Yeah.......It is our best friend if we use it properly.http://www.mastercreditcard.net

[bestcreditcardforstudents]

It's nice to see this type of action being taken against the credit card companies, but I don't believe any of this will stop their "world wide profits" unless people actually buckle down and put a stop to out of control spending habits.

I beleive we brought this on ourselves.