One of the biggest concerns from conservatives since President Obama's election has been the possibility of new, overly burdensome government regulation on various aspects of the economy and financial markets. While this should be a real concern, it is unfair to assume new regulations will be over-the-top before any of them are actually drawn up, passed, and enacted.
Among the first is a credit cardholder "bill of rights" which is supposed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card issuer practices. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill (the Senate is working on possible modifications), so I thought I would go through the summary of its contents to see how reasonable it is. Below are the details:
Interest Rate Increases
1) Limits interest rate increases on existing balances to those cardholders who are late with their payments, have a promotional rate expire, or have a card with a variable rate
2) Requires card issuers give consumers 45 days notice to any interest rate changes or significant contract changes
Credit Limits
1) Lets consumers set their own fixed credit limit
2) Prevents over-the-limit fees for consumers who have set a limit or for "hold" transactions
3) Limits (to 3) the number of over-the-limit fees issuers can charge for the same transaction
Penalties for On-Time Payers
1) Ends "double cycle" billing - interest charged on balances that were paid on time
2) If cardholders pay on time and in full, prevents issuer from charging left-over interest fees
3) Prohibits additional fees for paying over the phone or internet
Allocation of Consumer Payments
1) After the minimum amount due, payments must be allocated proportionally to high interest and low interest balances, not exclusively to the lowest interest rate debt
Due Dates
1) Billing statements must be mailed 21 calendar days before the due date, payments received by 5pm local time on the due date must be considered "on time"
2) Extends the due date to the next business day if the due date falls on a day the card issuer does not accept or receive mail
Misleading Terms
1) Establishes standard definitions for terms such as "fixed rate" and "prime rate" so as to ensure clarity in marketing materials
2) Gives consumers who have been "pre-approved" for a card the right to reject the card prior to activation without negatively impacting their credit score
High Fee, Subprime Cards
1) Prohibits issuers of subprime cards (cards with fixed annual fees that exceed 25% of the card's credit limit) from charging those fees to the card itself, which often results in consumers going over their limit
Issuance to Minors1) Prohibits card issuers from knowingly issuing cards to individuals under 18 who are not emancipated minors
After reviewing this "bill of rights" I was pleased to conclude that none of these measures, in my view, would be considered excessive regulation by the federal government. I think we all need to take more responsibility for our actions and our financial situations, and empowering the consumer with information and the ability to avoid certain products if they choose to can only aid in that process. Kudos to Washington on this one (hopefully the Senate doesn't mess with it).