Credit Cards Getting Expensive As Credit Card Bill Approaches

This week, some legislations from the credit card bill are going live. One will require credit card companies to distribute information to credit card holders about interest rate changes and other relevant changes in their credit card agreement 45 days before these changes activate. This will give credit card holders some much needed time to consider their options and possibly shop around for much better credit card deals to avoid the agreement changes.

Another legislation will require credit card companies to send bill statements 21 days in advance of the due date instead of the current 14 days. With this in place, credit card holders won’t be liable to miss out on a payment because of delayed mail. Earlier credit card statements will also give credit card holders more time to find funds to repay their debts and to consider other options.

While these changes are minimal, once the credit card bill goes live next year, credit card holders are going to see a lot of positive changes in their credit cards. For instance, credit card companies won’t be able to raise interest rates at their whim. Unfortunately, the credit card bill is still a long ways away from activating. In the meantime, credit card companies are busily raising their interest rates, raising fees, adding new fees and basically doing everything they can to generate as much income from their credit card holders before the bill cuts off their ability to do so.

The result of all these changes that credit card companies are doing is that credit cards are becoming more and more expensive to own and to use. For example, yearly fees are making a come back. Credit cards that didn’t have annual fees now require annual fees from credit card holders. New fees are also being introduced. There is a fee, for example, that activates when the credit card holder has not used their credit card for a while. Old fees are also being hiked up.

A lot of the changes that credit card companies are not just being made for profits but are also being introduced in order to prepare for the credit card bill application. For instance, because credit card companies won’t be able to raise interest rates as arbitrarily as they used to, they are raising interests now, while the credit card bill has not yet activated. Another example is that, because advance notice for interest rate changes applies only to fixed rate interests, many credit card companies are moving their credit card interests to variable rate.

These days, if you carry a balance, you are in a world of financial hurt. Nowadays, the motto seems that, if you have a credit card, leave home without it.