The CARD Act – Banks are taking the credit

According to a recent article in Money Talk News, credit card issuers are patting themselves on the back after a new report shows they’ve gotten rid of many “unfair” or “deceptive” practices consumers complained about.

My recent credit card statements have announced how the bank is now “allowing” me to opt in to “overdraft protection.” They don’t mention that it’s now the law, in the hope that I’ll think they are doing it to be nice. They’re also telling me that they won’t raise my interest rates on existing balances. Same deal. It’s now the law, not their great customer satisfaction goal.

The fact is that the CARD Act forced the banks to make these changes. To add to that, the banks are finding other ways to tack on fees to make up for the lost revenue. Watch for these:

We talked about before the law went into effect. Now they need to take a different road. Never forget that banks are in business to make money–lots of money. Have you ever seen a less than perfect bank building? Fees that the new federal laws won’t allow will be replaced by others. You can count on it.