CreditCardsAct

Two provisions of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 take effect on Aug. 20. Most of the other rules don’t apply until February.

Longer bill payment period: Credit card statements will arrive earlier. Issuers must mail billing statements 21 days before the due date, up from the current requirement of 14 days.

If there is a grace period (how much time you have to pay the balance in full before a finance charge incurs), it must span at least those 21 days before the due date. If you carry a balance, the grace period doesn’t matter.

This expanded bill payment window means nothing if you miss the due date, so sign up for online payment reminders if your issuer provides such a service.

Increased notification of rate hikes: Cardholders will get 45 days’ advance notice, up from 15 days, before a rate increase or other “significant” change in terms takes place. No advance notice is required for credit limit reductions.

Card issuers also don’t have to notify you in advance if the increase is triggered by a shift in the index to which the variable rate is tied (usually the prime rate), the expiration of a promotional rate or a 60-day late payment.

In other words, they only have to provide advance notice of arbitrary rate increases on existing or future balances.

Notices won’t help you at all unless you read your mail. Scan statement stuffers and any other correspondence from your card provider before throwing them out with the coffee grounds. What looks like junk might not be.

By Leslie McFadden, bankrate