In July of 2010 there are going to be some adjustments in the rules concerning how interest rates are handled with credit cards. This legislation is supposed to help the American consumers; however upon going over them in depth it seems more like a publicity stunt than something to truly assist the American consumer.
These are some of the most drastic legislation changes that have been seen in decades and they come as a result of over sixty thousand complaints to the Federal Reserve over the last couple of years. The complaints are over when people out of nowhere find themselves getting their interest rates drastically increased on their credit cards.
One of the largest changes is that consumers will no longer get their interest rates bumped up on existing balances when they go a day or two past due. Instead the interest rate hike would be put on future purchases not the existing balance like the credit card companies do today. But if the late payment goes past 30 days then the interest rate increase will be applied to the existing balance as well. Credit card companies say in their defense that their reasoning for bumping up the rate is because these debtors are a higher risk of non payment.
One more change made is that the creditors must issue a forty five 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.
Personally I feel this is too little too late! How come we have to wait until next year for these changes to take effect? In addition if you are still over thirty days late than you would still see the high interest take affect on your previous balance. And many consumers fall behind way further than one month, especially with today’ economy and job market.
Plus these new laws will only take effect on the cards issued from July 2010 and forward. So anyone who has a card under a different sign up agreement will still fall prey to the creditor’s abuses. Consumers trapped with high credit card debts should seriously figure out how to get out of debt as soon as they can.
One of the best ways consumers have been accomplishing this is through debt settlement companies; a method in which the debtor will save a lot of money and become debt free within a couple of years. Getting you the correct credit card debt relief should be a number one concern.
