Federal Reserve Chairman Says Moving Up Credit Card Rules Might Hurt Consumers

Congress is considering moving up the effective date of the new credit card rules from February 22, 2010 to December 1 this year. But, according to Boston Herald, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has warned Congress that moving up the rules could hurt consumers. Bernanke says it would be costly for credit card companies to get ready for the new rules so quickly. Like they typically do, credit card companies would pass these costs off to consumers.

In a recent Credit.com survey, 56% of consumers say they want the credit card rules moved up. I tend to agree with Bernanke. It'd be nice to have the rules implemented sooner, but I'm sure we'd see all types of other (more costly) changes in the meantime.

Weekly credit card news roundup:

• Credit card defaults fell from September after reaching record-breaking numbers in August. -Reuters
• Citi increased the interest rate on many of their credit cards to a whopping 29.99% (which happens to be the default rate on many credit cards). But, the company promises affected cardholders they will receive a 10% rebate on interest paid every 90 days as long as their account balances are paid on time. (Source: Consumerist) This comes just a few days after Citi closed their oil-branded credit cards without notice.
• Bank of America plans to charge an annual fee to 1% of its cardholders. The fee will range from $29 to $99 and will be charged to some customers in good standing, who've never carried a balance and who've never been charged interest or late fee. In other words, if BofA hasn't made any money off you, this new annual fee will try to make up for that. -Chicago Sun-Times