<\/strong>In the war between corporations who abhor regulations of any kind and consumers who regularly get screwed by unregulated corporations, a heartening victory has been achieved via the Credit CARD Act pushed by President Obama and passed by Congress in 2009 over the strong objections of the banking and credit-card industry.<\/p>\n CARD stands for Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure. Also known as the credit-card-holders\u2019 Bill of Rights, CARD reins in some of the credit-card industry\u2019s most egregious practices. And a new study [May 2012] by DEMOS<\/a> shows that, three years down the line, the law is, in fact, helping consumers.<\/p>\n Before <\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s review. According to creditcard.com<\/a>, before Congress enacted the CARD Act, credit-card companies could:<\/p>\n -Raise interest rates at any time, for any reason, including rates on existing balances. It was the only major form of consumer lending in which the terms of your loan could change after you borrowed, at the sole discretion of the lender.<\/p>\n -Mail a bill 14 days before it was due, and change the due date and time at will.<\/p>\n -Automatically push consumers into high-cost plans that let you exceed your credit limit, for a fee.<\/p>\n -Market cards on college campuses and shower 18-year-old college students with freebies to induce them to sign up for credit cards.<\/p>\n -Apply payments in a way that maximized finance charges, by paying off low-rate charges first, leaving high-rate charges churning up finance charges.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n After<\/strong><\/p>\n The CARD act changed all that, says creditcard.com.<\/p>\n When its major provisions took effect in February 2010, it instituted a sea change in how credit cards were priced, marketed and used. Among other things, the law:<\/p>\n -Banned “any time, any reason” interest rate hikes on existing card balances. Except under a limited number of circumstances, such as paying late by 60 days or more, the deal the card issuer offered had to stay intact for at least the first year.<\/p>\n -Forced issuers to give consumers at least 21 days before bills were due and discouraged arbitrary due date shifts.<\/p>\n -Changed the over-limit rules from “opt-out” to “opt-in.” Instead of being automatically enrolled, consumers have to agree to be enrolled in such plans.<\/p>\n -Limited most late fees to $25.<\/p>\n