Washington Post recently ran some required reading for all credit card users entitled “Five myths about America’s credit card debt.” Don’t be deceived by the somewhat banal title – this piece is actually very illuminating …
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In its ongoing efforts to protect consumers, the Federal Reserve rolled out a preliminary ruling that aims to limit credit card fees, particularly the troublesome over-the-limit fees which have received much media attention in the past few months. This rule, pending public comment, will go into affect on August 22 and will (hopefully) help curb some of the exorbitant fees attached to credit cards. Here’s a quick rundown:
The proposed rule would make it unlawful for credit card issuers to charge over-the-limit fees greater than the overage amount. For example, if you went over your limit by $10, the resultant fee could not exceed $10. In the past, there was a flat fee for over-the-limit penalties – usually in the ballpark of $39+. So, in that case, a $3 latte charged to your maxed out card could actually wind up costing you much, much more. Additionally, credit card issuers won’t be able to charge multiple penalties on a single transgression.
The caveat: This rule won’t stop banks from charging 100% of your over-the-limit amount. So, if you accidentally charged $300 on a maxed out card, you could wind up paying $300 in fees (rather than the typical, much lower, flat rate). Whether banks will adopt this practice to make up for lost revenue on smaller over-the-limit penalties remains to be seen.
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This is a guest post from Matt B. Matt writes about all aspects of personal finance at Financial Methods. Please visit the site and let him know what you think.
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