Credit card changes
Disclosure
• Your credit-card company has to give you 45 days notice before it can increase your interest rate, change fees or make other significant changes to the terms of your card. And with notice of the changes, it must give you the option to cancel the card before the costs increase. If you take that option, however, the company may close your account and increase your monthly payment.
• The credit card company does not have to send you a 45-day advance notice if: you have a variable interest rate tied to an index; your introductory rate expires and reverts to the previously disclosed rate; or you violate a payoff agreement.
• In your monthly bill, your credit card company must tell you how long it will take to pay off your balance if you make only minimum payments and how much you would need to pay each month in order to pay off your balance in three years.
Rates, fees and limits
• Your credit card company cannot increase your interest rate for the first 12 months after you open an account. There are some exceptions, such as if your card has a variable interest rate tied to an index. In that case, your rate can go up whenever the index goes up. If there is an introductory rate, it must be in place for at least six months. Despite these rules, if you are more than 60 days late in paying your bill, your rate can go up.
• Increased rates apply only to new charges. If your credit card company does raise your interest rate after the first year, the new rate will apply only to new charges you make. If you have a balance, your old interest rate will apply to that balance.
Over-the-limit transactions
• You must tell your card company if you want it to allow transactions that will take you over your credit limit. Otherwise, such a transaction would be turned down. If you do not opt in for over-the-limit transactions and your credit card company allows one to go through, it cannot charge you an over-the-limit fee.
• If you allow over-the-limit transactions and go over, the company can impose only one fee per billing cycle. You can revoke your opt-in at any time.
Caps on high-fee cards
• If your credit card company requires you to pay fees (such as an annual fee or application fee), those fees cannot total more than 25 percent of the initial credit limit. But that doesn't apply to penalty fees, such as for late payments.
Underage consumers
• If you are younger than 21, you will need to show that you are able to make payments or you will need a co-signer to open a card. If you want to increase your credit limit, your co-signer must agree in writing.
Billing and payments
• Your credit card company must mail or deliver your credit card bill at least 21 days before your payment is due. In addition, your due date should be the same date each month. The payment cut-off time cannot be earlier than 5 p.m. on the due date.
• If your payment due date is on a weekend or holiday, you will have until the following business day to pay.
• If you make more than the minimum payment on your bill, your credit card company must apply the excess amount to the balance with the highest interest rate.
There is an exception: If you made a purchase under a deferred interest plan (for example, "no interest if paid in full by March 2012"), the credit card company might let you choose to apply extra amounts to the deferred interest balance before other balances. Otherwise, for two billing cycles before the end of the deferred interest period, the credit card company must apply your entire payment to the deferred interest-rate balance first.
• No two-cycle (double-cycle) billing. Credit card companies can impose interest charges only on balances in the current billing cycle.
Source: Federal Reserve
This time, the fine print contains some good news.
Starting Monday, credit card issuers must follow a new federal law that places limits on interest-rate increases and certain fees.
It's about time, said John Kesling, 48, of the Northeast Side, who thinks the credit card companies have had too much leeway for too long.
"They hold all the cards," he said. "They can change the rules at their whim. The big print giveth and the little print taketh away, and there's a lot of fine print."
Some of the most significant changes will be for young people: It won't be easy for them to get a credit card. Under the new law, anyone younger than 21 will need a co-signer.
"For some students, it could be a barrier to building credit, while for others, it may save them from the woes of credit card debt," said Kate Trombitas, assistant director of the Student Wellness Center at Ohio State University.
Consumer advocates are welcoming the law, while banks are warning that the new rules will bring unintended consequences, such as higher interest rates for people with good credit.
The law, signed by President Barack Obama in May, includes these changes:
• "Universal defaults" are banned. This means that if you miss a payment on one credit card, your other credit card companies can't raise your rates on their cards.
• Retroactive rate increases are severely restricted. If your card issuer wants to raise the rate, the increase will apply only to new purchases. Also, if your interest rate has changed, any payment above the minimum payment is applied to the balance with the highest rate.
• Fees for exceeding your credit limit are banned unless you give your credit card company permission to allow transactions that exceed the limit.
Those are just a few of the provisions in this sweeping legislation, called the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act.
"I definitely think it's needed," said Casey Parthemore, 30, of Clintonville. She said credit card companies "need to be reined in."
She once had to pay several hundred dollars worth of fees on a small balance after she changed addresses and one of her credit card bills didn't get forwarded.
Plenty of consumers see no need for more regulations.
"I disagree fundamentally with legislating responsibility," said Ben Sharp, 24, of Victorian Village. He views the new rules as an encroachment by government on something that should be left to the credit card companies and consumers.
Cardholders stand to save more than $10 billion per year. That's how much they are paying because of practices that will now be restricted, according to the Pew Safe Credit Cards Project, part of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Despite all of the changes, credit card companies still have no cap on interest rates and they still have wide latitude to make changes to accounts that have fallen behind on payments, said Leslie McFadden, credit card columnist for BankRate.com.
"Some people have seen their rates go up to the penalty rate, and in some cases that's very high," she said. Many advocates say the law doesn't go far enough.
At the same time, several trade groups are warning that the new law will do more harm than good.
"When you remove or restrict the ability of card issuers to be flexible, to reflect the changes in individual customer risk, what you've done is take away a pricing mechanism," said Peter Garuccio, spokesman for the American Bankers Association.
To make up for that loss, the companies will likely need to raise costs on the front end when cards are issued, in the form of higher interest rates, he said.
College students aren't sure what to make of the changes. Now that anyone younger than 21 will need a co-signer, students' access to credit will be determined by whether their parents or other potential co-signers have good credit.
"I think it will only worsen the problem," said George Moussi, 19, an Ohio State student.
The problem, in this case, is that some students graduate with almost no credit history, which makes it difficult for them to get loans for cars or houses.
Ohio State has banned credit card companies from soliciting on campus, though that limitation has merely meant that the solicitors set up shop across the street from campus. Trombitas, from the Student Wellness Center, oversees financial counseling for incoming students and for students who seek extra help.
The university's alumni association has a contract with Bank of America to provide an Ohio State-themed card, but the contract prohibits direct solicitation of students, an OSU spokesman said.
Lawmakers included the provisions for young people because of concerns that too many students were getting deep into credit card debt.
And that is indeed a problem, said Billy Hallal, 21, an Ohio State student.
"You go to college and you do some moronic things," he said. "A lot of young people don't know how to manage money."
dgearino@dispatch.com
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