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| Attention Americans: Credit/debit card issuers can no longer charge you whatever they feel like! |  |  |  |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010 15:50 |
| Americans used to pay billions of dollars in surprise bank fees. But now the American Federal Government is slamming credit/debit card issuers with new rules on fees, interest rates and more. This is very good news for you! In the best interests of American credit card holders, the recent Credit Card Act of 2009 enforces “fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open-end credit plan.” What this means is that credit/debit card issuers can no longer do what they please with your fees and interest rates; everything is now illuminated, including interest rate hikes, credit increases and more! Here is just a bit of what you can look forward to: • Interest rates cannot be increased within an account’s first year. • Issuers can no longer charge “processing” fees for online/phone payments or if you exceed your credit limit. • You will only pay higher interest rates if your payment is more than 60 days late. If you are more than 60 days late on a repayment, the interest rate will go back down if you make timely payments for six months in a row. • If your card has more than one interest rate on balances, your payments will be made to the balance with the highest rates first. • Payment due dates will fall on the same date every month. If this date is on a holiday or weekend, the date will be the next business day and there will be no penalty. • Pre-paid credit card gift certificate and gift cards cannot expire after five years unless it is clearly disclosed prior to the purchase of the card. • You will have to authorize charges for bank over-drafts and for exceeding your credit card limit; if you do not authorize these charges, transactions exceeding the limit will be declined. • You will no longer have to “pay to pay” when paying bills by mail, over the phone or online. The only exception is when you want to make an expedited payment to avoid missing a deadline. • Monthly statements must be sent 21 days before the payment due date, rather than 14 days. Please note that credit card issuers can still charge annual fees and do not have to cap interest rates. They can also continue to decrease your borrowing limit, cancel your account without notice and increase your monthly minimum payment. But they have to be open about it now! We hope this has been helpful. Thank you for making AlertPay your way to pay and get paid. Related links: - New rules for your plastic - Credit and debit-card issuers react to restriction - Credit Card Act of 2009 - A guide to the Credit Card Act of 2009   Read more: AlertPay Blog |
