See How the New Credit Card Laws Will Affect You
If you currently own one or more credit cards, or are planning to apply for one soon, then this will definitely interest you. The long-awaited, and much talked about, credit card reform regulations are now officially in place as of today February 22, 2010.
We know that these laws have been drawn up to protect customers from the predatory practices of banks and credit card issuers, but exactly how will they affect you, the cardholder? That’s what we’re going to look at right here.
It used to be that credit card issuers could raise your interest rates whenever they wanted to for both new purchases and existing balances. That’s no longer the case. Here is what the new laws dictate:
On existing balances, the interest rates cannot be raised unless the account payment is at least 60 days past due. In addition, interest rates cannot be raised on an account within the first 12 months of it being opened unless it is an introductory period expiring.
Your statements are going to look a little bit different too. Cardholders will now see how many months it will take for them to pay off their balance in full if they pay only the minimum each month.
And here’s a little twist on that one the we happen to like; statements will also be required to show how much money is needed to pay each and every month in order to have your balance paid in full in three years.
Fees are addressed as well. During the first year of having a credit card the annual fee will be capped at 25% of the credit limit. After that there will be no cap on annual fees. You can pretty much bet they will be going up though.
Grace periods have also become longer. Statements are now required to be mailed out at least 21 days before the payment is due. Once more, finance charges and fees cannot be levied during the grace period.
Well that pretty much sums up the major points that officially have become law as of today. For better or worse this is our new reality.
Related Information:
- How Credit Card Reform Will Affect Consumers Find out how credit card form will affect you, if at all....
- How Credit Card Reform Will Affect Those Under Age 21 Find out exactly what effect credit card will form will have for people under the age of 21....