New Report Shows Concern for Cardholders

As the war rages on in Congress on whether the implementation date for the Credit CARD Act should be moved to the end of the year, it does not seem that card issuers are in any hurry to end many of the current practices that will be illegal starting February 2010. That is at least what one company has seemed to find according to a newly released report entitled "Still Waiting: ‘Unfair or Deceptive’ Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect".

In this report, cards from the largest credit card issuers and credit unions in the U.S. were reviewed to determine the effect their terms and conditions had on their cardholders. For many the results are not considered surprising. According to the report, there was a 20% rise in advertised card interest rates within the first half of 2009. Some other findings included that 99% of card issuer’s terms allowed them to increase interest on outstanding balances, and 95% of issuers were able to apply payments in a way that is frowned upon by the Federal Reserve.

In all the report shows that many issuers have yet to give the cardholders something that is considered consumer friendly. We only have a couple of more months before the banks will be force to make changes, but still it is not soon enough for some.