Wow, they are so busy-busy-busy regulating the finance industries. As you know, I am in the mortgage industry which has been ripped apart and is currently being re-built through a mountain of new regulations and consumer disclosures. Next stop, credit cards. The new regulations go like this:

1. You now get your bill 21 days before it is due instead of the usual 14 days. Thus you now have an extra week to see if you can muster up the bucks to pay for that flat panel TV or simply scrape together the minimum
   
2. They now have to give you 45 days head up that they are increasing your interest rate instead of doing it and then telling you. so, what are you going to do it about anyway?
   
3. You can now opt out of accepting the new interest rate terms and tell them to close your account. If you close out your account, you can continue paying off the balance at the old interest rate- while not being able to use the card anymore. However, the account will show (I assume) as closed by creditor which is not good for your credit and you will probably lower your score.

So, I’m not really sure what the big deal is with these new pointers. A few more things forthcoming are banning heavy solicitation to young adults and restrictions on rate increases- that’s good. Here are a few more pointers I came up with, for the consumer:

• Don’t buy things on your credit card that you cannot afford to pay off in one or two cycles
• Read the fine print for any changes in rates or terms
• You can call to change the billing date and try to negotiate your rate (good luck)
• Never tell the credit card company to close your account w/o paying it totally off- no matter how long they left you on hold or how mad the customer service rep got you
• Oh, open the statement when it comes in the mail- not three weeks later

Dale Siegel