Montana Credit Card , New Laws To Protect Your Account

By: EconomyWatch Content Team   Date: 1 February 2010

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While the year 2009 was very difficult in many ways, one positive change was the passing of the law called the “Credit Card Reform Act of 2009”.  With this, people with a Montana credit card or any state card, the consumer is provided with protection.  This would ensure credit card companies, banks, or credit unions do not go back and charge cardholders retroactive interest rates and that double cycling does not happen.  This Act also stops issuing companies from overcharging account holders with excessive fees and penalties.

Another benefit of this Act for people with a Montana credit card or any state is that is represents needed reform in this country.  Interestingly, this particular law is the first serious federal legislation for consumer rights in more than three decades.  Typically, it is the credit card company, bank, or credit union being protected but now, consumers are the ones that the government is watching out for, which is great news.

This new law for a Montana credit card or any state card just went into effect but it shows tremendous promise.  Some of the dynamics of this new Act include the following:

·    Interest Rate – One type of protection has to do with interest rate on a Montana credit card account or any account.  In this case, rates cannot be increased on any existing balance.  However if the cardholder is 60 days past due, then this rule would not apply.  Other scenarios in which this rule would not apply include times when the cardholder is already paying a variable rate or if the promotional rate offered by the issuing card expired.  Other than that, increased interest rates could only be charged on new balances.

·    With this new law for a Montana credit card or other cards, the increased interest rate would be charged only to new purchases but only if the cardholder had the account for a minimum of 12 months.
 
·    After the 12-month period if the interest rate on a Montana credit card or any state’s card were increasing, the issuing company would be required by law to notify the cardholder of the account.  This way, the consumer would have more time to get the balance on the card paid off, if wanted, cancel the account completely, or choose to transfer the balance to another card with a lower rate.

·    Even rules regarding minimum payments has changed.  In this case, the protection is that issuing companies are no longer allowed to charge excessive fees and penalties on the Montana credit card account that has not made payments on time.  Another huge benefit of this new Act is that if the cardholder misses making two or months, the issuing company has to lower the interest rate back to the original amount.

The primary purpose of this reform is to help consumers get credit under control, which in turn would be beneficial to the economy.  There are many other factors associated so anyone with a Montana credit card or a card from any state should research the 2009 reform online.  Chances are they would discover a number of things that would ultimately save them money.


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