Consumers beware: Credit-card companies already are finding ways around the new law designed to crack down on their tricky fees and hidden charges.
The Credit Card Accountability Act of 2009 was intended to stop lenders’ unfair practices, such as jacking up a cardholder’s interest rate without warning or shortening billing cycles. For the most part, the law is working.
But credit-card companies have been busy creating new ways to gouge their customers legally. For example, a study by Pew Charitable Trusts found that the median annual fee on bank credit cards rose 18 percent, to $59, from July 2009 to March.
During the same period, credit unions’ annual fees for cards jumped 67 percent, to $25. Fees for cash advances and balance transfers went up an average of 33 percent.
Banks are also flooding the marketplace with offers for so-called "professional" cards, which are like corporate cards but are subject to the same terms as regular consumer credit-cards.
