In setting his goals for credit card reform, President Obama expressed his desire to end card issuers’ power to change the terms “at any time, for any reason.” So, did the new credit card legislation signed into law at the end of May 2009 accomplish this goal?

Credit card companies are experts in that age-old marketing trick: Weasel wording. Weasel wording is language deliberately crafted to be vague enough to make it possible to “weasel out of” any implied promises and commitments advertised.

There was a time when credit card late fees ran between $5 to $10, and only rarely exceeded $15. And no, this wasn’t back in your grandfather’s days when the purchasing power of a penny was equivalent to a dollar (and credit cards, by the way, were non-existent). This was less than fifteen years ago.