Will new credit card law further limit consumer spending? : Bad Credit Advisor

Will new credit card law further limit consumer spending?

It just may. Now that we have new credit card law, we need to examine some things to see what may be coming to us. Even though most provisions will go into effect 9 months from now, with just few rules going active in 90 days, credit card issuers are starting to seek alternative streams of income to compensate for the lost revenues from late and over-the-limit fees, and high interest charged on badly managed credit card accounts. Banks will likely be going after well behaved users who pay on time, in full and enjoy 0% interest promotions, cash-back and various reward programs. What's in store? Could well be new fees and higher interest rates even for most stellar consumers as well as fewer rewards and promotional offers.

Here are some of the potential fees and other unpleasant things, that may just force you to stop carrying your plastic for good:
- fees for rewards programs and less rewarding programs
- fees for checking your balance
- fees for talking with credit card representative
- fees for paying your credit card bill online
- annual fees regardless of how much you spend
- annual fees waived only for high spending credit card accounts
- higher rates for all consumers, regardless of credit score
- no more 0% APR on balance transfer and purchases
- no grace period - you start paying interest the minute you make purchase

One thing it will do for sure is to further curtail consumer spending, which with all the purchasing power gone from home equity erosion, bodes quite badly for the economy two thirds of which is based on that very consumer spending.

Sun May 24, 2009 08:05PM by Tony | More in Personal Finance | Comments (0)

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