Three Major Changes Up For Thursday From The Credit Card Bill

This coming Thursday, three provisions of the credit card bill are going to go active. While the majority of the credit card bill provisions are not going to go live until February of next year and what credit card holders expect from the bill won’t be coming until then, these three early provisions should provide some much needed help to credit card holders in the meantime.

The provisions coming this Thursday include:

1. Requiring credit card companies to give notice to credit card holders 45 days before any interest rate increase or any other significant changes in the credit card holder’s account agreement

2. Credit card companies must inform their credit card holders in their notices for account agreement changes that the credit card holder has the right to cancel their accounts before the change is applied

3. Credit card statements must be mailed or delivered a minimum of 21 days before the credit card payment becomes due. In February, credit card companies will have to make due dates fall on the same day every month. If the due date falls on a day when the credit card company is not accepting payments by mail, for instance on weekends, the credit card company cannot consider the payment received on the next business day as late payments.

These provisions may not make a huge impact on credit card holders, considering that they are focusing mainly on keeping information freely available and in a timely manner for credit card holders. They are not going to stop the continuing rise of interest rates and fees. They won’t block the introduction of more and more fees on credit card holders. They won’t keep credit card companies from cutting available credit to credit card holders.

What the provisions will do is give credit card holders some leeway in the form of more time to consider their options and make smart financial choices when their credit card account agreements change and/or when their credit card bills become due.

45 days can be a lot of time for credit card holders to think about whether it is good for them to accept their credit card agreement changes or move to another credit card line. With enough time given to them, credit card holders now have the ability to dodge steep interest rate changes and any other changes that may trap them into paying too high for their credit card privileges.

In the same way, credit card holders who receive their bills 21 days before the bill is due have more time to review their bills and figure out how to pay them or whether it is not better to move to another credit card line instead.