Credit-card changes discouraging for consumers

We've pretty much been together through it all over the past 20 or so years — the vacations, the life crises, the unexpected and traumatic visit to the emergency room a few years ago when a stranger's cartload of bricks tipped over onto my big toe as I was browsing plants at the garden center.

But despite all that time and many fond memories, we're through.

My credit card and I are parting ways.

Things haven't been right between us for some time, although I've honestly tried to do my part. I've never missed a payment, never been an hour late. And I've been fairly patient, I think, putting up with little quirks and increasing demands.

The straw that broke it, for me, was the recession. I was a loyal customer and a steady if not very big source of income. That loyalty appears to have been one-sided. The second that things started getting rough for all of us, the company turned on me, raising my interest rate significantly, simply because it could. It was pretty clear the company didn't care how I was impacted. News flash: You're not the only one that's been pinched and bruised by this economy, dear credit-card company.

And I'm not the only one who's unhappy. While I just plan to cut the card into bitty little pieces and send it back with a Dear John letter that says, "I'm leaving you," lawmakers are taking a more formal approach.

The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that changes how the companies can operate, and the House approved it Wednesday. By week's end, there may be a new law.

The fundamental rules of credit have traditionally tied risk and interest rates together: If the credit-card company assumes a higher risk, it gets a higher return, as well. But I'm not quite sure how I or a grundle of other customers who managed to pay their bills on time suddenly became that higher risk — unless it is the fact that with the interest rate going up, we, too, will be more pinched than before, thank you very much.

The Senate bill takes effect in nine months, except for a notice requirement before interest rates go up, which is effective in 90 days. It bars rate increases on previous purchases unless the cardholder is at least 60 days behind in paying the bill — and if that does happen, the lower rate is supposed to be restored once the cardholder establishes a proscribed history of paying the bill on time.

They'd have to stop charging you extra to pay by phone or online. And there are other changes, such as making very young would-be cardholders show they can pay for their charges before they can be issued a credit card at all.