Credit card users have someone on their side– the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration. Those government organizations are supporting new rules to regulate practices of credit card companies. Here are a few of the new rules expected to go into effect mid-2010:
1. Interest Rate Changes: Credit card companies must disclose the annual percentage rate (APR) at the time the account is opened and if they plan on raising the rate, that must be clearly communicated when the account is opened.
2. Reasonable Time to Pay: Credit card companies can not treat a payment as “late” unless the consumer has at least 21 days to pay it.
3. Payment Allocation: If you have account balances with different Annual Percentage Rates and you pay more than the minimum, that extra money will go towards the account with the highest balance or it will go equally to all of the accounts.
4. Double-Cycle Billing: Credit card companies cannot do this anymore– it’s when they tack on finance charges based on balances associated with previous billing cycles.
These new laws are the most strict regulation efforts against the credit card industry in decades. Although the rules take effect July 1, 2010, the Office of Thrift Supervision hopes credit card companies will start complying as soon as possible.
Photo Courtesy of Andres Rueda






