The Obama Administration enacted the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act. This is targeted at protecting consumers from sudden rate hikes and unreasonable fees. Here’s a summary:
- Credit card statements must be mailed out 21 days before they’re due
- Individuals under 21 will need a co-signer on their cards unless they can prove that they have the means to make payments on their own
- Credit card agreements will have to be posted on the internet
- Interest rates can’t be raised during the first year of an account
- Customers will be notified 45 days in advance of any change in interest rates
- Bills can be paid online or over the phone without incurring a processing fee
- Customers must be over 60 days late on payments before their interest rate can be raised on balances; if the rate is raised, it will go back to the lower rate if customers make the minimum payment on time for six months in a row.
- Overlimit fees can’t be charged unless cardholders are told that the purchase will put them over their limit and they authorize it to go through anyway
- If your card has more than one interest rate on balances, then payments must be applied to the highest interest rate first
- Gift cards can’t expire for five years, and issuers can’t charge dormancy fees for unused amounts left on the card
Changes sound reasonable. It would be interesting to see how this will affect credit card offers. These fees probably help fund credit card promotions.
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