Consumer Wins In Historic Federal Reserve Decision
Filed Under (Credit Cards Blog) by creditblogger on 18-12-2008
Credit card consumers have finally something to cheer about in these tough economic times. Federal Reserve has finally put the hammer down on credit card issuers that use deceptive business practices to extract more fees from their card holders. Credit card issuers have gotten away with many shady practices in the past few years, but the new ruling will bring more transparency to the credit card business and empower the consumers. Here are the major points of this decision:
- Credit card companies can not increase your interest rate on existing balances unless they have gotten your payment late by 30 days.
- Credit card companies can not charge you a late fee if they don’t give you at least 21 days to pay your dues.
- Credit card companies can not move your payments around in a way to make you pay more interest over long-term.
The only downside to the new rule is that it will go into effect on July 1st, 2010. As someone who has worked for credit card corporations before, I do understand the frustration on their part. But it’s simply not acceptable to play with consumers’ lives by charging them hidden and misc fees. I can just name a few card companies that will be not too happy about this (and you can expect them to look for ways to challenge this rule or find a loophole).
Your take: will the new ruling stop credit companies from continuing to apply their deceptive business practices?
