Now the Joint Conference Committee needs to make the two bills agree.

Much of the following is taken from the New York Times articles and series "The Debt Trap".  Here is a link to a great graphic showing the increases since the 1920s of America's debt.  First, it is household debt that has increased vastly - houses have become more expensive and therefore the debt here is relatively reasonable (though too high in the past 5 to 10 years, obviously).  Secondly, installment loans have been almost constant since WWII.  Third, home equity loans were non-existent before 1990.  Finally, credit card debt is also a relatively recent phenomena, only really advancing since 1980.  The elimination of annual fees and wealth requirements vastly increased the ability of the average person to hold many credit cards.

The basics of the law, some of which is from the Your Money article found here:

Late fees are to be more reasonable.  Companies cannot make payments due at 9 am on the day they are due (thus the due date is really the day prior), or send the bill with a very short turnaround time so that mailing in the payment in time is almost impossible.

If you are under 18,  you may not apply for a credit card without parental responsibility.  The major implication of the provision will be that the rest of us do not pay for someone underage being irresponsible.  We have to be an adult to be irresponsible (which we all are at least ONCE!  grin)

Gift Cards: dormancy rules, expiration rates, etc. are in the Senate Bill but will need to be discussed in the Joint Committee.

Fine print rule is in both bills but hard to read typeface is only in the House Bill.

Other components may also become more or less important but the hope is to have a bill to the President before the Memorial Day holiday.

About Credit Card Holders like ME, DO NOT WORRY, in my humble opinion.

We pay our credit card payments in full, before the due date and never carry a balance.  The credit card industry has been trying to convince us that WE will need to make up for the fees lost by the lack of risk components (fees).


    WHY?  Because the Credit Card companies NEED us too!  We balance out those who are delinquent and therefore allow the credit card companies to earn late fees, etc. 

   Furthermore, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our credit cards GENERATING FEES from the retail stores, etc. - So we MAY see a "waive of the annual fee if we spend "X" amount of dollars per year" clause  (no *I* am not giving THEM the idea, it is already out there).

  Note that means getting rid of a few credit cards that one doesn't use ( A VERY GOOD THING ANYWAY)!!!

However, we need to wait and see what happens to the final bill that goes to the President.