Credit Check
Posted by mmetz on February 23rd, 2010
On May 19, 2009, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) was passed and set to go into effect February 2010. Well it’s February and if you haven’t already, it’s time to learn about the CARD act and how it affects you.
First of all, the CARD act protects the holder from unfair rate increases and term changes. With this new act, all promotional rates must last at least six months, rate increases do not affect previous balances, and your rates can not go up in the first year of a new card.
CARD also protects holders from high fees. Now you cannot be charged a fee if you go over your limit, unless you opt into over the limit transactions. This is great for all of you who get a little plastic happy from time to time. The act also requires any penalty fee to proportional to the violation.
For all of those who worry about paying the bills on time, it is now required to send the bill out twenty one days in advance instead of fourteen. This is a great opportunity to start working on your budget a few weeks ahead of time.
If you ever had a problem with your terms and rates of your card, you will now be given forty five days notice if your rates or fees increase.
Young adults get a piece of the action by getting increased protection for students against aggressive credit card marketing.
There are many more changes to the way we use credit and they can be viewed at the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs website.
It’s very important to stay current on all the new credit laws so you don’t get blindsided by anything dealing with your credit.
What are your thoughts on the new CARD act?
Photo by: Andresrueda // CC 2.0
Source: United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs
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