Last week, President Obama signed an extension to keep theincreased FDIC limits until December 31, 2013. If you have anaccount insured by the FDIC then you are insured up to $250,000 per depositoror $500,000 for a joint account. Theselimits were originally set to expire at the end of 2009.
President Obama also signed a new credit card law that becomeseffective in 2010. Here are some highlightsof the changes.
CreditCard companies will not be able to raise rates on existing balances except ifthe card has a variable rate or there is a late payment.
Promotionalrates have to last at least 6 months.
Ifa consumer pays more than the minimum then the excess payment must go to payoff the higher interest rate balance first.
Requirespayments due at least 21 days after the bill was mailed.
Requiresanyone receiving a credit card under age 21, they must have parent or legalguardian sign that they are responsible for the debt.
Thereare also limits on fees that can be charged for late payments and over-limitcharges.
The critics think that this will mean that more credit cardswill have annual fees and there will be less reward programs because the creditcard companies will have less revenue sources.
This law only affects credit cards issued by banks. Credit Unions are not affected by thisregulation because they have their own rules and they already had guidelinessimilar to this in place.