Whether you agree with his other policies or not, Barrack Obama is far and away the best presidential candidate when it comes to reforming the credit card industry.

His promised Credit Card ‘Bill of Rights’ will go a long way to protecting consumers from underhanded tactics, including (but not limited to):

Banning Unilateral Changes. Currently, credit card companies can unilaterally change the terms of a credit card agreement at any time for any reason with only a 15-day notice to the consumer. Barack Obama will ban these unilateral changes in credit card agreements unless companies have obtained written consent from consumers and have followed the rules and terms of the agreement.

Applying Interest Rate Increases Only to Future Debt. Credit card companies often apply increased interest rates to both new debt incurred by the cardholder, as well as previously incurred debt. Barack Obama will require increased interest rates to apply only to future credit card debt, and not to debt incurred prior to the increase.

Prohibiting Interest on Fees. Credit card companies often charge interest on transaction fees, such as late fees or paying a bill by telephone. Barack Obama will prohibit credit card issuers from charging interest on transaction fees.

Prohibiting “Universal Defaults”. “Universal defaults” are a practice in which a credit card company raises an individual’s interest rate based on failure to pay a different creditor on time. Barack Obama will prohibit this practice.

Requiring Prompt and Fair Crediting of Cardholder Payments. Barack Obama will require credit card issuers to apply payments first to the credit card balance with the highest rate of interest and to minimize finance charges.

Obama also plans to create a credit card rating system modeled on five-star systems used for other consumer products, to provide consumers an easily identifiable ranking of credit cards, based on the card’s features. Credit card companies will be required to display the rating on all application and contract materials, enabling consumers to quickly understand all of the major provisions of a credit card without having to rely exclusively on fine print in lengthy documents.

Obviously you shouldn’t be basing your decisions solely on how ‘consumer-friendly’ a candidate is, but the Credit card industry is in serious need of reform, and Obama seems to be our best hope of making it happen.