The Federal Reserve is proposing that “unfair and deceptive” lending practices by credit card companies come to an end - and consumers have until August 4th to make comments or complaints regarding this issue. (Visit the Federal Reserve website to comment).
Changes to policies would put a stop to some of the more common, and perhaps most abused credit card practices by credit card lenders, like raising interest rates on debt you already have, calculating finance charges on two months of credit card activity instead of a single month, and applying consumer payments to the lower-interest-rate balances first.
While changes to these policies will be welcomed by most cardholders, hopefully the Federal Reserve will also deal with a common practice of credit card companies mailing statements out so that it’s impossible to get your payment back before the due date. Have you ever received your credit card statement two or three days before the due date? Even if you ran out to the mailbox that day with your statement and check to be mailed, you would stand little chance of it being received and processed before the due date… many times a late payment results in an interest rate hike and/or a late fee of $39 or more.
If you want to be heard on these issues, visit the Federal Reserve before August 4th and let them know what you think.
Changes to policies would put a stop to some of the more common, and perhaps most abused credit card practices by credit card lenders, like raising interest rates on debt you already have, calculating finance charges on two months of credit card activity instead of a single month, and applying consumer payments to the lower-interest-rate balances first.
While changes to these policies will be welcomed by most cardholders, hopefully the Federal Reserve will also deal with a common practice of credit card companies mailing statements out so that it’s impossible to get your payment back before the due date. Have you ever received your credit card statement two or three days before the due date? Even if you ran out to the mailbox that day with your statement and check to be mailed, you would stand little chance of it being received and processed before the due date… many times a late payment results in an interest rate hike and/or a late fee of $39 or more.
If you want to be heard on these issues, visit the Federal Reserve before August 4th and let them know what you think.
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