Yesterday, the Quizzle Wire reported that credit card companies are finding ways to get around some new laws passed to protect consumers from unfair credit card practices. These alternative routes were put in place to counteract congressional moves like the CARD Act, which gives consumers protection against unexpected interest rate increases, over-limit fees and major changes to credit card terms, and a new bill passed in the House of Representatives today that will overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system.
The bill must wait to be passed in the Senate until after the Independence Day recess.
So while you should still know about the other ways credit card companies are trying to make a buck, there are many other things in these new laws of which you should be aware.
Here’s a rundown of how financial reform will affect consumers like you:
Consumer Protection Agency
Consumers will now have a big brother who’s on their side. Housed within the Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will help strengthen rules for banks, mortgage lenders, credit-card and private student loan companies, and consolidate large lapses in products like mortgages, credit cards and payday loans.
Many Americans have suffered immensely during the financial crisis. Now they can at least be reassured that someone will be looking out for their best interest.
Credit Scores
Mortgage lenders, credit card issuers, insurance companies and landlords all look at your credit score in deciding interest rates, premium prices or whether or not to even rent you an apartment at all. Now, if you get turned down because of your credit score, you’ll be able to view the score your lender is looking at – for free.
Granted, you can always use free credit report and score sites like Quizzle.com, but to find out what score prevented you from qualifying for a mortgage, all you now need to do is ask. And this also implies that you can ask for the score even when you’re satisfied with the rate or result of your loan application. Just ask and you shall receive.
Mortgages
The bill will prohibit the practice of lenders receiving bonuses for what type of loan they sell. This had made it previously beneficial for lenders to attempt to sell unfair adjustable rate mortgages, or high-interest loans. Consumers with an adjustable rate mortgage will also no longer be charged if they wish to pay off their mortgage early.
Credit and Debit Card Rules
If you go by the tenet that everyone is a consumer, you may come to accept this new rule more than those who can only think about how it will affect themselves.
Merchants can now under law refuse your credit or debit card unless you spend a certain amount. The minimum under which they can refuse is $10. So no more packs of gum or Starbucks coffee on the card. If the store says no, the consumer must abide.
Merchants will also not be allowed to give discounts to customers of specific credit or debit card issuers. This will only affect banks with more than $10 billion in assets, which would mean that merchants could be paying more to accept cards from smaller banks and credit unions.
Wall Street Complexities
Finally, the bill will clamp down on how Wall Street makes money off of unaware investors. The way this is to be done is confusing and complex. All that really needs to be known concerns the Office of Credit Ratings, created to supervise rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s – agencies that came under fire for supposedly assigning positive ratings to risky investments.
Stay safe out there. The Wall Street world can be aggressive.
For more tips and tools to help you manage your home, money and credit – including the most affordable credit monitoring on the web and complete identity theft protection – visit Quizzle.com.
More from the Quizzle Wire:
- Credit Card Companies Find New Ways to Charge Consumers
- 5 Steps to Get out of Debt Faster
- 10 Credit Score Facts and Fictions
- Fed Caps Credit Card Late Fees, Bans Inactivity Fees
- How to Use Credit Cards to Your Advantage
Thank you for providing a fair and balanced assessment of Financial Reform.
Thanks for keeping me abreast of what’s going on in the White House.
I wish U could figure out a way to get to the President to fix the problem of people who purchased homes not included within the date he set to get their principles reduced by their banks, to find a way that it can be reassessed.
(IF the banks are even doing it for anybody yet )
How about those of us who put huge cash down payments on our new homes to reduce our monthly costs, by using all or most of our life savings to do so & now with the loss of thousands of equity dollars within only a short time, have pretty much lost all the cash we used as a down payment on our homes ?
President Obama should have a way to help people like me, who this has happened to. I can’t stay in this home as long it will take for the market to come back to even out to what I paid for it, let alone make any profit on it.
I’m already at a loss of $60,000 & dropping…..so there’s no way I can sell without losing my life savings in the process.
I need a law that will force my bank to lower my principle to equal what the market says my home is now worth. Minus what I paid for the down payment.
I know this is an unusual request, but the times have proved it’s needed.
I’m not one of those “filthy Rich” people who can withstand a hit like this to my bank account & retirement funds. I struggled to save for many years to build up enough to feel easier about being disabled & unable to work. Plus, I was already hit hard in my 401k. How much can a regular, sacrificing person bare ?
There just has got to be some help out there to remedy this heartache situation for those of us in the same boat.
The Real Estate sector has suffered too greatly and there hasn’t been enough relief ruled by Congress to help us out. IF, any at all…
The few who managed to get some relief from their banks on their mortgages, were only qualified thru a short time period. It wasn’t near long enough.
I missed out by only a few months time…Yet I lost a great deal that cannot be replaced.
Send the President/Congress a note for me……will ya ?
Thanks for listening and letting me vent.
Don’t blame me. I voted for perot.
What do you expect when the American people voted in a president who surrounds himself with radicals, terrorists, socialists & Communists. Their main concept is to control the wealth. They want us to share our “wealth” with the whole world after they make Obama a dictator.
Last election we didn’t have much choice with McCain running for president. He is really a democrat in disguise. So was President Bush. When will the American people wake up and elect a conservative president who will trim the government down to size.
You shouldn’t have put your life savings down if you didn’t plan on spending the rest of your life there.
And Democrats in disguise? Let me guess..you also think Tupac is still alive too huh? Nice conspiracy theory.