My friendly neighborhood citizen journalism outfit, The Uptake, posted a message from Austan Goolsbee of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers on August 20, the day the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 (aka the Credit Card Bill of Rights) took effect.
Today, I got a message from Discover Card about changes to my account. My Discover Card is my primary credit card.
SUMMARY OF CHANGES INTEREST RATES
- Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”) increases for paying late or exceeding your credit limit. We will no longer increase your APRs on your existing credit card balances if you pay late or exceed your credit limit. Your APRs on new transactions may increase to a Default Rate only if you fail to make a payment when due. However, if we increase your APRs for new transactions to a Default Rate, we may, as described below, periodically review your Account to determine if your APRs should be reduced….
- Grace Period. Your grace period for new purchases is changing, which may help reduce your finance charges….
FEES
- Overlimit Fee. We will no longer charge an Overlimit Fee….
- Pay-by-Phone Fee. We will no longer charge a Pay-by-Phone Fee….
- Balance Transfer and Cash Advance Transaction Fees. If you make a balance transfer or take a cash advance, the maximum transaction fees will be increasing to 5% of the amount of each new balance transfer or cash advance, as applicable, with a minimum of $10….
PAYMENTS
- How Payments are Applied. Payments made in excess of the Minimum Payment Due will now generally be applied to high APR balances first. This may help you pay off your high APR balances sooner….
- Minimum Monthly Payment. The Minimum Payment Due calculation is changing, which may result in a higher required monthly payment. Making a higher monthly payment will help you pay down your balances faster….
- Payment Processing Time. Mailed payments received at our processing facility will be credited to your Account on the same day if received by 5PM local time, instead of the current 1PM cut-off time….
YOUR RIGHT TO REJECT CHANGES
You have the right to reject some of the above changes in accordance with the instructions described below…. If you reject these changes, we will close your Account, but you will have the option to pay down your balance over time, in accordance with the then-current terms of your Cardmember Agreement.
So, you know, it worked! Selfishly, I wish it had been in place five years ago (bygones), but better late than never. This will help millions of other people struggling to manage their debt. When you’re in dire straits like that, every single dollar makes a difference.
I’m sure there will be some unforeseen consequences down the line or the credit card issuers will come up with some other ways to gouge you. I’m also utterly pleased that I am no longer in the position of having to worry about whether I’m close to my limit or will be able to pay off my balance every month. But it’s good to know that if I ever find myself in that position again there will be less insult to the injury.
P.S. I’m still salty that my Lynx-themed Discover Card was deactivated now that Discover is no longer a WNBA sponsor.
