New legislation being passed on Credit Card Abuses!
In July of 2010 there are going to be some changes in the laws concerning how interest rates are handled with credit cards. These laws are supposed to help the American people; however upon reviewing them at them closely it seems more like a public relations stunt than something to truly help out the American consumer.
These are some of the most profound legislation changes that have been seen in years and they come as a result of over sixty thousand complaints to the Fed over the past couple of years. The complaints are over when people suddenly find themselves getting their interest rates greatly increased on their credit cards.
One of the biggest changes is that debtors will no longer get their interest rates racked up on existing balances when they go a day or two late. Instead the interest rate hike would be put on future purchases not the existing balance like the creditors do today. However if the late payment goes past thirty days then the interest rate increase will be applicable to the existing balance as well. Credit card companies say in their defense that the reason for bumping up the rate is because these consumers are a higher risk of non payment.
Another change made is that the creditors must issue a 45 day notice to the fact that the interest rate is going to be increased; they can no longer just bump it up overnight without warning the consumer.
Honestly I think this is too little too late! How come we have to wait until next year for these laws to take effect? In addition if you are still over thirty days late than you would still see the high interest applied to your previous balance. And many people fall behind way more than one month, especially with today’ economy and job market.
Plus these new laws will only take place on the cards issued from July 2010 and forward. So anyone who has a card under a different sign up agreement will still fall victim to the creditor’s abuses. People stuck with high credit card debts should really figure out how to get out of debt as soon as they can. One of the best ways people have been accomplishing this is through debt settlement; a method in which the consumer will save a lot of money and become debt free within a couple of years.
