OBAMA CREDIT CARD DEBT RELIEF

The economy is in rough shape and so are people's wallets. Across the country, folks are struggling with credit card debt like never before. Add to this is the fact that credit card companies are hurting too and we see that they have been doing some funky things with customers accounts. Because they need more money, credit companies have been cancelling customer's cards, raising interest rates, adding new charges and fees, and other things that they deem will make them more money.

Luckily for consumers, the Obama credit card debt relief plan kicked in on August 20, 2009 and more of it will become law beginning early in 2010. These new rules have been put in place to protect consumers and give them fair warning before new fees are charged or their interest rates on their credit cards are raised.

The credit card debt relief that just went into effect looks like this: instead of only being required to give 30 days advanced notice before changing a contract, companies that issue credit cards will now be required to give you at least a 45 day warning. If you, as a consumer, don't want to agree to the new terms, you don't have to and you will have 5 years to pay off your balance at your existing rate. Of course, if you don't agree to their new terms you will not be able to make any additional charges on your card as they will close it.

Another important change has to do with creditors making money from late charges. They will now be required to put their bills in the mail 21 days before the due date instead of the current 14 days. This will give people more time to pay those bills and should lessen the likelihood of being late with your payment.

The even better part of Obama's credit card debt relief plan is that starting in February 2010, companies that issue credit cards will no longer be allowed to raise interest rates on people's existing balances unless those people are 60 days or more late with their payment. This is great for people with large balances because they can at least now know that the interest rate on that money will not be increased.

There will also be other new laws put into place in February such as the new requirement that anyone who is 21 or younger must have a cosigner and they will have smaller credit limits. Also, interest rates will not be allowed to be raised in the first year for anyone unless there is a specific provision for that in the contract.

People continue to look for debt relief grants and anyway they can to get money to pay off their debt. It seems debt has been a big problem in this country for a while now and it is just getting worse. Hopefully these new credit card debt relief measures will help out somewhat and make things more predictable so that people are not taken advantage of.