The Ups And Downs Of The New Credit Card Reform
March 9th, 2010Protecting consumers was the core focus on the subject of creating and implementing the new credit card law. But lots of professionals and consumer advocates are still asking for more consumer protection law and say that the new law is insufficient or might even bring about more difficulties to individuals who seek to get credit cards or people who already are credit card holders.
Presently, borrowers who are considered “risky” suffer the most due to the high interest rates and fees being slapped on them. The reason given by lenders is that customers who are deemed risky are the ones who have a higher likelihood to be at risk of loan default and raising their interest rates and fees are ways to collect revenue from these types of customers just in case failure to pay take place. Some restrictions against this type of practice are also contained in the new law but there are also some revived regulations which banks can “modify” to their advantage.
Ten years ago, annual fees on credit cards were removed but it’s now making its way back to people’s credit card statements. While annual fees have already been included to a considerable quantity of statements, this is now something that all credit card consumers will have to deal with from now on.
Further added fees are also created by some credit card issuers. Inactivity fee is one which can amount up to $20 usually given to those who had stopped using their credit card for six months. Another one is known as processing fee where $1 gets charged to new customers who apply for credit cards and it’s for the processing of paper statement.
Balance transfer fee, which has been around for a long time, were also raised. From 3 percent to 5 percent, one particular financial institution, JPMorgan Chase, now charges customers who wants to lower their rates by transferring their current balance from another bank or financial institution. Customers who want to do balance transfers would have to pay for it since balance transfers can only be done by their current credit card provider.
Obtaining new cards will now have a 13.6 percent interest rate compared to last year’s 10.7 percent. Later this year, base rates will also be increased and this would be a concrete legitimate basis for lenders to raise variable interest rates as well.
Lots of credit card holders may also experience a harder time in keeping credit cards and getting new credit cards will also be the same. Nowadays, lenders granting credit cards has become more stricter and are doing all sorts of measure to reduce risks. Since the credit crunch, not only did banks tighten the way they grant credit, but they also devised lots of schemes to get more revenue from their credit cards.
Credit limits were also cut for millions of people. An estimated available credit amounting to $1 trillion is said to have been eliminated by doing this. California and Florida are two states that were the most subjected to credit limit cuts because of the high unemployment rate and housing crisis.
People should also not be surprised if they are not receiving credit card solicitation in their mail anymore. Compared to year 2000 up to 2008 which had an average of 2.3 billion solicitations, only a quarter of this figure have been recorded in 2009.
The new law has provided a few restrictions too and getting around these restrictions will be part of many lenders’ strategies. This is an additional factor why banks will be more reluctant to issue credit cards especially to those who have low credit ratings and low FICO scores. A good credit rating will be the only full-proof method for someone to be approved a credit card.












