{"id":6225,"date":"2009-05-21T20:00:29","date_gmt":"2009-05-22T00:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=6225"},"modified":"2009-05-21T20:00:29","modified_gmt":"2009-05-22T00:00:29","slug":"credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President"},"content":{"rendered":"

I will probably blog about credit cards for the rest of my life without seeing any larger, more significant events than those of this week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When President Obama signs the Credit Card Bill of Rights, it will be a whole new ballgame out there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a lot of disinformation out there about the effects of this bill.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On many of it’s ramifications it is fair to say that no one knows how the future will look.<\/p>\n

Separating Myth From Fact<\/strong><\/p>\n

So far, this<\/strong><\/a> is the best article I have read about the future of the credit card industry.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bob Sullivan of MSNBC’s Red Tape Chronicles deserves credit for wading through all of the unrealistically high expectations and doomsday forecasts offered by interests on both sides of this act.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of his insights are clearly aimed at the most casual followers of this bill.\u00a0\u00a0 The fact that no interest rate cap was included should not be a surprise.\u00a0\u00a0 I actually believe that there might have been some serious reduction in available credit with a 15% interest cap.\u00a0\u00a0 I would have supported a 30% interest cap however.\u00a0\u00a0 If banks require that rate of return in order to price their risk,\u00a0 neither the bank nor the borrower should be in the market.<\/p>\n

Sullivan predicts it will raise your rates, and I accept that.\u00a0 I would prefer an honest higher rate than a low rate in big letters, followed by bunch of tricks and traps in microscopic print.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He also seems to agree with me that people who pay their bills on time will NOT be hit with huge annual fees and other negative implications.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, I know some banks will try it, but this business is so hyper competitive, I have no doubt that the market will sort it out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I will only tolerate a minimal annual fee on my finest reward cards, like my Starwood Amex.<\/p>\n

Oddly, he seems to feel that the new bill will not speed up the rules previously enacted by the Fed, even though it will.\u00a0\u00a0 The new rules take effect in February, rather than July 2010.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is a huge difference in my book.<\/p>\n

Celebration? Yes!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I also disagree with his conclusion that consumers should “celebrate a LITTLE”.\u00a0\u00a0 This bill is almost everything I could have hopped for and represents a MAJOR win for consumers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is rare that the government ever takes any action that has a noticeably positive effect on so many people.\u00a0\u00a0 I think this is the biggest victory for working people since the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, I would have liked to have seen an interest rate cap of some sort, but otherwise, I couldn’t have written much of a better bill myself.<\/p>\n

The Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make no mistake, banks will start raising interest rates and looking for new ways to generate fees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My only hope is that they will at least think twice before doing so.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As this happens, consumers can and will cancel their cards for new ones when the fees become unacceptable.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a great time to join\u00a0 myself and others who, by paying every bill in full, use credit cards as a method of payment, not a method of finance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It will become easier to pay your bills on time now that they must send the them out 25 days in advance, and they can’t be due on a weekend or a holiday.<\/p>\n

If you do happen to pay one bill less than full, you won’t be charged interest on previously paid charges.\u00a0\u00a0 If the worst happens and you skip a single payment, they cannot raise your rates.\u00a0\u00a0 The devil is always in the details, and these are major, major victories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will probably blog about credit cards for the rest of my life without seeing any larger, more significant events than those of this week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When President Obama signs the Credit Card Bill of Rights, it will be a whole new ballgame out there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a lot of disinformation out there about the effects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCredit Card Bill Sails To The President<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I will probably blog about credit cards for the rest of my life without seeing any larger, more significant events than those of this week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When President Obama signs the Credit Card Bill of Rights, it will be a whole new ballgame out there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a lot of disinformation out there about the effects […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/\",\"name\":\"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597\",\"name\":\"Jason Steele\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/author\/jsteele\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President","og_description":"I will probably blog about credit cards for the rest of my life without seeing any larger, more significant events than those of this week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When President Obama signs the Credit Card Bill of Rights, it will be a whole new ballgame out there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a lot of disinformation out there about the effects […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/","og_site_name":"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog","article_published_time":"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00","author":"Jason Steele","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Steele","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/","name":"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00","dateModified":"2009-05-22T00:00:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/credit-card-bill-sails-to-the-president\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Credit Card Bill Sails To The President"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/","name":"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/18331587d05ff4eaeee29fd913227597","name":"Jason Steele","url":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/author\/jsteele\/"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}