Credit Card Customers Get Some Relief

Dec. 18, 2008 — -- Melissa Wareham got a nasty surprise when she opened her credit card statement last month: Her bill was hundreds of dollars higher than she expected.

The culprit, she said, was her new, higher interest rate -- it jumped 10 percentage points to 27 percent.

Wareham, a human resources consultant, is paying off about $20,000 in credit card debt accumulated while she and her husband were both in graduate school. The interest rate spike shocked her, she said, because she always pays her bills on time.

"We have other accounts and so, now, I'm watching those really carefully to make sure that's not happening with those accounts," the 27-year-old Washington state woman said.

Relief is now on the way for Wareham and other Americans caught off guard by sudden spikes in credit card interest rates.

New rules announced today by the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, will include a restriction limiting when credit card companies may raise rates.

The restriction, industry watchers say, will allow credit card companies to raise rates on existing credit card balances only when the card holder is more than 30 days late, when he or she is receiving a promotional interest rate with a defined expiration date, or if the interest rate is tied to a specific market index, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate.

Under the restriction, card companies would still be able to raise interest rates on new charges.

Wareham is optimistic about the rule.

"I think that it would definitely help people to get out from under their large amounts of debt," she said.

Gerri Detwiler of Credit.com, a credit information Web site, also applauds the change.

"It just brings some sanity back to this market," she said.

But not everyone is cheering.