The act is coming in waves—with the first having already started almost a month ago. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act attempts to keep credit card companies from using those all too familiar tactics that credit card companies use to keep us paying the premium rates.

Credit card companies are limited on when they can raise their rates. It can only happen after a promotional rate expires, the indexed rate increased, or you are delinquent on your bill by 60 days or more. There is still a loophole, however. They can raise rates anytime on new balances with 45 days notice. So, you still need to be reading your mail.

There are also new restrictions on fees. Banks can no longer charge a fee to pay your credit card debt—but they can still charge to expedite a payment. Cards also won’t be approved for people under 21 unless they have independent income or have a cosigner who is over 21.

The laws have also eliminated double cycle billing (charging interest on debt paid the previous month), change the way your payments or allocated, increased the time period you have to pay your bill, and extended the expiration dates for gift cards.

As you can see, these laws will help the average consumer. However, you are still being held responsible for your actions. There are small points in each of these laws that say “except in this instance…” indicating that you will still need to be responsible with your spending. If you have gotten in over your head in debt, you will still need to seek help.

Tags: and Disclosure Act, Credit Card Accountability, Credit Card Changes 2009, credit card debt, double cycle billing, Help with Debt in St. Louis, New Credit Card Laws, new government bill, new restrictions on fees, Repsonsibility, St. Louis bankruptcy attorney

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 10:34 am and is filed under bankruptcy, credit card debt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.