Columbus Credit Card Laws to Reduce Fees

By: EconomyWatch Content Team   Date: 27 January 2010

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In recent years, more and more states are taking a closer look at the way in which collections are being processed for credit cardholders, as well as the type and level of fees being charged.  A perfect example is someone with a Columbus credit card account.  In this state, lawmakers are paying more attention to what banks are charging on credit cards.

The problem is that some credit card companies, banks, and credit unions offering a Columbus credit card account are charging new fees and increasing existing fees.  In fact, some are getting extremely competitive, if not aggressive when it comes to establishing high dollar fees.  Obviously, to the person that has a Columbus credit card, this is devastating.  Even worse is that sometimes, the cardholder is not notified that an additional fee was added or that an existing fee was raised and the person only knows once the statement arrives.

It is important to remember that banks and credit unions have been hit hard by the current economy and in fact, some are barely surviving.  Because of this, they are looking for innovative ways to stay in business, which unfortunately, comes at the expensive of the cardholder of the Columbus credit card account.  For consumers, the complaints are pouring in, which creates a serious problem for lawmakers.

Not only are some of the fees being charged to a Columbus credit card account high, but also, some banks and credit unions are going as far as practicing deceptive practices.  For the cardholder that has had a credit card for years and knows more what to look for, bad practices are easier to identify.  However, if a Columbus credit card were established for a college student or someone who has never had a card prior, it would be easy to overlook things such as this.

The biggest problem currently is with overdraft fees.  Just as with a checking account, a person could open a Columbus credit card account and choose overdraft protection just like protection offered for checking or saving accounts.  However, overdraft fees quickly add up.  Because of this, close to $24 billion dollars were collected by banks and credit unions in 2009 alone.  That means from 2007 to 2009, the increase was an incredible 35%.

In May of 2009, President Obama signed into law a new credit card reform bill.  With this, fee and unexpected rate increases being imposed by credit card companies were eliminated.  While this is great news for the person with a Columbus credit card account, the new bill will be implemented in sections so while positive changes have already been seen, a deadline to the end of February 2010 has been set for all aspects of this bill to go into effect.

Unfortunately, some credit card companies, banks, and credit unions are taking advantage of the months between May of last year and the end of February of this year to increase rates.  That means a person with a Columbus credit card account might have noticed a huge jump in rates recently.  For some, the rate increase was as much as 23%.  Considering that consumers are struggling in this economy along with financial institutions, receiving a credit card statement only to realize the change is devastating.


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