On February 22, major new consumer protections took effect as part of the second implementation phase of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009. Just two practices addressed in this second phase will save American consumers at least $10 billion a year.
Below, the Pew Health Group's Safe Credit Cards Project looks ahead to the third and final phase of the Credit CARD Act, to take effect August 22, 2010, which will require all credit card penalties to be “reasonable and proportional” and will direct card issuers to review all interest rate increases since the beginning of 2009.
Pew is no longer active in this line of work, but for more information visit the Safe Credit Cards Project on PewHealth.org.