Congressman Mike Michaud announced that this coming Monday, February 22nd, a number of protections for consumers with credit cards will take effect. The new protections, which were included in the Credit CARD Act, or the “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last year. The bill was designed to hold credit card companies accountable and provide tough new protections for consumers. Key reforms taking effect Monday include prohibiting arbitrary interest rate increases and interest charges on debt paid on time (double-cycle billing ban).

“These new protections will directly benefit millions of struggling Americans. This is a huge win for consumers, especially given these tough economic times,” said Michaud, who was a strong proponent of the bill. “Mainers deserve to be free of these credit card gimmicks and unfair policies.”

The break-out below lists key provisions that will become effective on Monday:
* Prohibits arbitrary interest rate increases and universal default on existing balances;
* Prohibits issuers from charging over-limit fees unless the cardholder elects to allow the issuer to complete over-limit transactions, and also limits over-limit fees on electing cardholders;
* Requires payments in excess of the minimum to be applied first to the credit card balance with the highest rate of interest;
* Prohibits issuers from setting early morning deadlines for credit card payments;
* Prohibits interest charges on debt paid on time (double-cycle billing ban);
* Protects recipients of gift cards by requiring all gift cards to have at least a five-year life span, and eliminates the practice of declining values and hidden fees for those cards not used within a reasonable period of time.