Basically it is who do you trust to fix things - the ones who want to make a buck or those who are going into debt spending money they don't have? This is one of those situations where everyone loses.

There is no way in hell people will subsidize the credit deadbeats if they have a choice. Imagine if someone has to be credit worthy to get a credit card.

Well if they treat me poorly I will just stop using the card, either go debit card OR all Cash.

I think the new bill goes too far in some respects, but this is what happens what you treat your customer so outrageously that you all but beg congress to issue new regulations.

This should be a lesson to the other industries that are doing a sucky job of "self-regulation". (This means you, Airlines!)

One of the biggest consequences of the law is to make it harder for credit card companies to raise interest rates after a balance has been run up. That means they're going to have to try to guess the right interest rate for new customers.

My feeling is this will make existing customers, with established histories, much more valuable to them. They already know what to charge those people; they're known quantities. If you don't already have a card it may be harder to get one, but if you have a card in good standing they're going to want to work harder to hold on to you.

Yeah I'd probably just stop using them all together if they go through with this. I rarely use them now without enough cash on hand to pay off the whole balance, I do like the extended warranty most offer, but that's not enough to make me want to pay interest on my large purchases.

didn't it use to take a lot just to get a checking account and now we all run around with lines of credit in our pocket.

I haven't paid for anything with a credit card in 6 months. it's really helped the budget

i like my bank...but I have USAA...

@David Brodbeck: Well they should only give the credit limit that mean. Right now the CL seems like a fantasy- they lower your limit because you get close to it. What does credit limit mean?

@sirwired: Airlines self-regulating? Have you heard all the FAA requirements,the TSA requirements, than the individual airports land zoning laws/ other property laws. When you add them all up you can write a book.

The benefit of the free markets is they will keep the good customers happy. Sadly the people who rely on credit cards to survive will lose them and won't be able to get another one. Once again the people who will need them the most will lose big on this law.

I have faith in banks.

Because even though this legislation will be put into law, I know banks will FIND A WAY to make lots of money off credit cards. Ticketmaster-style "convenience fees" on every transaction, the return of the yearly fee for card "membership," and of course the higher interest rates come to mind, but they are much more clever than what I can come up with. Risk-based interest rates based on age, sex and spending patterns (heck, they may do that right now).

I know my faith is not misplaced: banks will not stop supplying the rope for people to hang themselves.

And yes, I like my bank (B of A, surprisingly) and I like my credit union even more. Go figure.

@I Love New Jersey: Your such a troll. Do you have anything to contribute that isn't a canned talking point from Fox News?

@warf0x0r: If they start charging interest from the purchase date, I'll only use a credit card to get the extended warranty (provided that doesn't go away, too) and just make an offsetting payment at, or even before, I make the purchase.

That means that all the basically free money they make off my purchases every month -- everything I can put on a card goes on a card -- goes bye-bye for them.

"Credit Card Company Threats Don't Scare Consumerist Readers. Muwahahaha!"

Fixed it! ;D

@Sam Barnard: I have taken the free market response to the nonsense the credit card companies have been doing. I sat on the sidelines since the early 90's. I saw the beginning of some of the bad practices back then and decided it wasn't worth it to have one. The reason I have not obtained another credit card since is because of the dishonest and shifty behavior card companies have been doing on their customers.

If the industry is cleaned up by the govt. to the point that having a card is less of a gamble I might come back as a customer. The change has to come from an outside force or the card companies could just change their minds and start the bad practices again at any time. Having some rules may bring some customers back to the card market.

@Yossarian: just make an offsetting payment at, or even before, I make the purchase.

Except some CC don't allow you to pre-pay or overpay. I know that option vanished at Chase some time ago.

"If you don't already have a card it may be harder to get one"

@David Brodbeck: Change "may be" to "is".

@TEW: True, but the regulations purportedly relate to safety, not economics. Before deregulation, you knew what the prices would be from day to day and the airlines competed on the basis of service. Since deregulation, airlines are selling a commodity and that usually winds up with the cheapest price being the winner and service be damned.

I'm one of those deadbeats. I'm sure the 50 million others like me will not pay interest on charges from day one. They get their revenue off of us from the merchant fees they charge, and whether those merchants pass that fee on to cardholders or not, the banks that start charging interest from day 1 will simply no longer receive those fees. The people who are paying off their balances every month have no incentive to pay them interest, and will stop.

What I actually think will happen is that a few banks will continue to offer grace periods for their best customers, and all the deadbeats will make a beat a hasty path to them. And the other banks will simply lose even more revenue.

Finally, the deadbeats can already afford to handle our affairs on a cash basis. Sure the rewards and float are nice, but we can survive without them. They need us more than we need them. Good luck to them with their new business model.

I run a small business that has a merchant account. Back before everyone had (multiple) rewards cards I paid a much lower percentage in merchant account fees. As rewards cards became the norm, fees went way up. And I too started using the rewards cards - why not? I'd actually love to see it go back to no rewards and lower fees. But I'd bet my ass that what we'll see is no rewards and higher fees.

To be fair I do like my bank, Wells Fargo has treated me pretty well. Waved some stuff it didn't have to.

For those who use credit cards in lieu of carrying cash, and pay their bill in full each month, a move back to cash (or even checks) would be the probable response to the imposition of fees and interest charges from the date of purchase. Particularly with free checking, it's economically the same as using a free credit card and paying it in full each month, except the merchant will get out of paying fees to the credit card company.

I like this response from the draconian overlords of the banking industry:

"Dear Customer:

We find that we must squeeze that extra bit of incredulity from our already barren souls to once more show you how absolutely half-assed our threats can be. We will make sure to have those customers who pay their bills suffer to subsidize the nincompoops who defaulted. Please be aware, all service fees and charges will double as of last November and be charged retroactively, for the record, we hate you and love your money.

Now, please do not read your statements, just pay what we tell you, we have a conference to get to in Maui.

Thank you,

We the idiots."

...oh, and another thing we forgot to mention, we're going to outsource all of our business to Malaysia, our back office to India, and the rest, we'll just let some homeless guy handle (we won't have to pay him). Just remember, we need our multi-million dollar bonuses, after all, it's not just ANYONE who can drive the economy into the horrific state it's in without a conscious. You should be proud that we actually donated that part of our souls that makes us human. We're better businesspeople for it.

@H3ion: Yeah, I agree, like I said above, I just simply do not see any incentive for us to pay interest from day 1 when there are so many other payment options, it's going to radically change the way retail is done. You're going to see more debit cards, more checks, and more cash except from people who are actually financing their purchase with their credit card.

@bohemian: Sorry, but some of us don't watch cable news since they stopped having actual news back in the 1990s.

these credit card stories on Consumerist just write themselves, don't they? No effort from the writer needed.

Gotta love how Consumerist puts words in our mouths...

@bohemian:
DO you even know what a troll is?

If you don't like your bank, don't use one. Try storing your money under your bed and see how that works out for you.

Truth is I like my bank a hell of a lot better than I like my government.

@bohemian: His post contributed far more than yours, even though I probably don't agree with his politics.

@humphrmi: you"recnot a deadbeat if you pay your bill off each month. Problem I see is these new regs are causi g every card company to raise rates and reduce rewards. This sux for folks like us who pay thief billvand don't break the rules. We are subsidizing the true deadbeats.

Lks lk Cnsmrst s ctrng fll scl t th pplst mb nw.

@joepa1: Yeah, I know, but the news and even this site like to refer to us as "deadbeats", so I just used their term. Even though we provide credit card companies with plenty of revenue at nearly zero risk.

If I have to, I will make an online payment every night if it means avoiding interest.

@TEW: Well, I was referring to non-disclosure of mandatory non-govt "fees", poor handling of tarmac delays, poor handling of customer complaints, over-booking of airport landing slots, advertising flight times that can't possibly be met, surcharges that have nothing to do with cost to the airline (such as a $100+ fee to correct a name on a reservation), etc.

@Ian MacAllen:

You know, if you make an online payment every night, they'll charge you a fee for multiple payments in a billing cycle and jack up your interest rate for overuse of customer service.

@Ihaveasmartpuppy:Probably time for a new merchant account, how much more do you pay?

@H3ion: You think grace periods will really be a thing of the past? Silly lobbyists pay $$$ by the big banks have put that idea into your head.
-
Go with a CU. I have not spent more than $5 in cash in the past 3 months. Why? No rewards, no chargeback protection, no extended warranty.

@laserjobs: How do these law changes subsidize deadbeats?

@David Brodbeck: I don't think they will be just guessing. They gather a lot of financial information about people to make the decision. What this law does is force them to make smarter decisions earlier.

@Kevin Carlyle: I ditto your comment. When the economy started going to he11 in a handbasket 6-8 months ago, I retired the CC. It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but now I really like the new cash-basis me. It's much better than cringing when I open the CC statement and see what I spent last month.

@sirwired: Not like Congress is any more honest. These are people who exempt themselves from laws they pass.

@umbriago: They already charge "Convenience Fees". They're called "Retailer Fees", and any retailer that lets you use a credit card for their purchases pays them around 2%, as I understand.

@joepa1: I believe he was referring to himself in the "Credit Card Company" definition of a deadbeat, which is in fact the opposite of a deadbeat. They hate people who pay off every month.

@TEW: Pre-deregulation, flying was actually enjoyable. Passengers were treated better than self-loading-cargo, the TSA didn't exist, baggage theft wasn't a problem. Hell, my bags even arrived at my destination with me, unmolested! Same for my civil liberties. Ah... won't be too long before I'll be sitting in a rocking chair, telling my children or grandchildren about the good old days.

@sponica: Yeah, it's looking like USAA is the way to go, if you're eligible. I stopped using them a while ago because I hated mailing check deposits to San Antonio. But now that you can scan a check, and they don't charge fees to use other ATMs, I'll probably go back. Plus, they're the only game, it seems, on bases in Japan.

I don't want further destruction of my rewards cards since some people can't responsibly use a CC.

Let's reinstate prohibition since some people are alcoholics.