For those of you who don’t know a bill was presented to the Senate today that would stop credit card companies from arbitrarily changing interest rates on cards. The credit card bill was passed with a vote of 90-5 in a bipartisan effort to stop credit card companies from unfairly changing the agreed upon interest rate. It makes sense to me. If you agree to a rate for passed due credit then that should be the rate. I’ve never paid a single penny in credit card interest and I never plan to, but I’ve been fortunate in this respect.
The bill doesn’t prevent the credit card companies from changing rates completely, but they must give their customers more chances to pay off their debt before jacking up the interest rates. The bill blocks any interest increases unless the payment has not been made a full 60 days after the payment due date. After that if you pay back your bill within 6 months of the due date, then the original interest rate must be re-instated.
Credit card companies have responded that if they can’t make their money by increasing interest rates, they’ll have to make up the difference on their good credit customers. I hope this doesn’t mean we’re going to see the end of rewards programs.