The Federal Reserve Board has proposed rules amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to protect consumers who use credit cards from a number of potentially costly practices.
Among other things, the proposed rule would:
- Protect consumers from unexpected increases in credit card interest rates by generally prohibiting increases in a rate during the first year after an account is opened and increases in a rate that applies to an existing credit card balance.
- Prohibit creditors from issuing a credit card to a consumer who is under the age of 21 unless the consumer has the ability to make the required payments or obtains the signature of a parent or other cosigner with the ability to do so.
- Require creditors to obtain a consumer's consent before charging fees for transactions that exceed the credit limit.
- Limit the high fees associated with subprime credit cards.
- Ban creditors from using the "two-cycle" billing method to impose interest charges.
- Prohibit creditors from allocating payments in ways that maximize interest charges.
The proposed rule represents the second stage of the Federal Reserve's implementation of the Credit Card Act. On July 15, 2009, the Board issued an interim final rule implementing the provisions of the Credit Card Act that went into effect on August 20, 2009. The proposed rule would implement the provisions that go into effect on February 22, 2010. The remaining provisions of the Credit Card Act go into effect on August 22, 2010 and will be implemented by the Federal Reserve at a later date.
See press release for full details.
