Women & Money: Fed's credit-card proposals offer needed protections

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, June, 2008 | by Suze Orman Inquirer Columnist

In early May, the Federal Reserve issued a series of new proposals designed to curtail some of the more egregious practices of the credit-card industry, while also requiring card companies to better disclose their rules to customers. Currently in the United States, there is more than $900 billion in outstanding debt, much of it accruing interest at rates well above 15 percent and susceptible to arcane rules and practices that generate major fee revenue for the credit-card companies.

But I suppose we'll have to be grateful for this better-late-than-never approach. And the Fed's proposed rule changes do offer some solid consumer protections: Credit-card issuers wouldn't be able to arbitrarily increase the interest rate on your card. There would have to be a concrete reason...