Fresh legislation changes for credit cards will assit debtors
In the summer of 2010 there are going to be some changes in the rules dealing with how interest rates are handled with credit cards. These laws are supposed to help the American people; however after going over them in depth it seems more like a publicity stunt than something to truly help out the American consumer.
These are some of the most drastic law changes that we have witnessed in decades and they come as a result of over 60,000 complaints to the Federal Reserve over the past couple of years. The complaints are over when consumers out of nowhere find themselves getting their interest rates drastically increased on their credit cards.
One of the largest changes is that people 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 credit card companies do today. However if the late payment goes past 30 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 hiking up the rate is because these debtors 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 jacked up; 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 a year and a half 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 people fall behind way more than one month, especially with today’ economy and employment market.
Furthermore 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 enrollment agreement will still fall victim to the creditor’s scummy tactics. People trapped with high credit card debts should seriously figure out how to get out of debt as soon as they can.
One of the more lucrative ways people have been accomplishing this is through debt settlement companies; a method in which the consumer 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 top priority.
