New Credit Card Protection for Consumers

還記得我十一月份寫的那篇Attention! Credit Card Holders嗎? 不知道你是否成為受害者之一? 聯邦政府終於提出對消費者的保護措施, 其中包括 (CNBC):

1. Longer grace periods. Card issuers must mail statements 25 days before the due date. Today, some mail them 14 days before the due date.

2. Fair allocation of payments. Now issuers will have to apply over minimum payments the balance with the highest rate instead of being at the issuers discretion.

3. No more universal default. Issuers won't be able to take adverse actions against consumers if they make unrelated late payments on other accounts. This would be prohibited under the new rules. Many issuers publicly object to universal default yet practice it.

4. Fees will be reigned in big time. No more "fee harvester" cards that take advantage of desperate consumers looking to get a card at any cost. In many cases these cards have low credit limits that can be largely used up by the fees even before the card is used.

5. No more double cycle billing. This is already a thing of the past but the new rules will officially retire the practice. Double cycle billing is the practice of an issuer calculating interest on a daily balances from more than just the previous 30 days.

新法將對信用差或是信用歷史短的人, 在申請信用卡上更加不易, 且會增加信用卡公司的成本 ($10 billion a year), 但對大多數信用良好, 繳款正常的持卡人來說, 卻是遲來的正義, 因為這項新措施要到2010年七月才正式實行, 無辜的消費者還要等上十八個月才能受到新法保護, 對我來說,這時間太長.

雖然我目前尚未成為受害者, 但是我對信用卡公司的作法很鄙視, 因為它們身為發卡公司, 他們有責任對申請人做信用調查, 而不是為了生意, 只要你申請就發卡, 然後再全面性對所有持卡人作一至性調高利率, 調高最低應繳額, 主動取消未始用的卡, 或降低使用額度, 即使你繳款正常也受害, 這還有天理嗎?

所以我已經寫信給California Senator Dianne Feinstein, 希望她能夠促使新法案早點生效, 避免擴大消費者在信心上的損失. FEAR 的負面力量是非常強大的, 看看布希利用人民因為911產生的恐懼, 對我們的隱私權侵略的程度之大, 這在以往正常的時候是絕對不可能達成, 這是題外話.  我希望身為讀者的你, 也能去信給California Congress, Let your voice to be heard.