New Credit Card Rules For 2010 & How They Affect Small Business

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What do the new credit card rules mean to small businesses? Nothing directly commercial credit cards are exempt from the new rules. Indirectly it is going to affect small businesses since many small companies especially over the last few years with the tightening of commercial credit, are using personal cards as their primary business cards. From an accounting standpoint this should not be done but it is a reality, so I want to address the new changes in this article.

* The most important part of the Bill is credit card companies are now unable to raise interest rates on existing balances as long as your payments are made on time

* Credit card companies now have to inform consumers 45 days before raising interest rates on new charges.

* The right to opt out, you will be able to opt out of new terms and conditions that are put in place after the card is issued

* More time to pay bills now you will have at least 21 days to pay monthly bills after the statements are processed or delivered so no more surprise billing dates.

* Limits on over limit fees

* Credit Card companies must now dislose the consequences of only making minimum payments (this is going to come as a big shock to some)

It is estimated that just the first two changes alone will save consumers over 10 billion a year. With the new changes there is also a down side, we will probably see a huge reduction in reward cards (personally I will miss my free Starbucks cards) and getting credit will probably continue to tighten and only be issued to people with credit scores that show an ability to repay. Good or bad the new rules will affect all of us and we should be informed of our rights.

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