A Reform Has Come!

The President signed the Credit Card Reform Bill into law today! I am so excited because it means that greedy credit card companies will have less leverage to overcharge and abuse consumers. Credit cards are designed to keep you in debt and the credit cards companies have got that down to a science. President Obama criticized policies that allowed for confusing fine print; the sudden appearance of unexplained fees on bills; unannounced shifts in payment deadlines, interest charges or rate increases even when payments aren't late; and payments directed to balances with the lowest interest rates rather than the highest. The President also noted that nearly half of all Americans carry a balance on their credit cards, and that their average balance is more than $7,000.

Under the new Credit Card Reform, which goes into effect in nine months, prohibit companies from giving cards to people under 21 unless they can prove they have the means to pay the debt or a parent or guardian co-signs. Customers also will have to be more than 60 days behind on a payment before seeing a rate increase on an existing balance. Even then, the lender will be required to restore the previous, lower rate if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time for six months. And consumers also will have to receive 45 days' notice and an explanation before their interest rates increase.

I am so pleased that change is coming to an industry that makes the bulk of it profit from confusing people with fine print and stealing from them with tons of extra compound interest rates that seem to just fall out of the fucking sky. Last year, the Nilson Report estimated that more than 700 million credit cards were in circulation in the United States. That's more than two cards for every man, woman and child. Yeah, that's some sad shit. Don't get me wrong, irresponsible spenders and obsessive shoppers are to blame too, but companies false advertise all the time, and then once you get a card with them they change the rules so many times it's hard to keep up with where your money is going and why? If we keep seeing changes like this coming from the Obama Administration then America will be well on it's way to getting these greedy capitalistic animal asshole induastries under control. I hope he targets the oil industry next;)