New credit card rules coming Thursday

Banks and consumers brace for new credit card rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. credit card industry, harshly criticized for imposing surprise fees and interest rate hikes on consumers, may face a day of reckoning on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve is to vote on credit card reforms that may bring some relief to customers who face a variety of ways for being hit with late fees, universal defaults, shorter payment periods and confusing payment allocations for different balances.

Credit card users likely also would see easier-to-read tables in their monthly statements as a result of the changes.

Also in this report: "In 2007, Americans were using an estimated 694.4 billion credit cards with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover logos, according to the Card Industry Directory."

Additional news sources following this story:

• Washington Post - "Fed Drafting New Credit Card Rules"
• New York Times - "Agency Seeks New Credit Card Rules"
• CreditCards.com - "What the new credit card reforms may mean for you"

And a quick link to some helpful advice:
The Motley Fool at Fool.com - "60-Second Guide to Managing Your Credit"