After years of credit card reform failing in congress and the senate, the Federal Reserve finally passed their own set of regulations last December. However, they weren’t set to take effect until July 2010.

Late last week, President Obama signed a similar credit card reform bill that won’t go into effect immediately, but it does bump relief a bit sooner… February 2010.  Democratic senators Chris Dodd and Carolyn Maloney, among others, sponsored the bill.

Notable changes the bill will bring include banning the practice of “out-of-the-blue” rate hikes, unless the cardholder is more than 60 days late on payment.  It also makes it more difficult for adults under the age of 21 to acquire a credit card, which will of course of a huge impact on future credit marketing on college campuses.

The banks have long cried that reform such as this will bring higher interest rates across the board for all customers. They claim that the revenue from bad credit credit card holders is what pays for the low interest rates and 0% balance transfer offers that those with excellent credit benefit from. Do you think this is true? What do you think the industry will look like a year from now after these reforms go into effect?

After years of credit reform legislation stalling in the House and Senate, the Federal Reserve passed regulations on their own back in December, but as you probably heard those new rules don’t go into effect until July 2010.

Christopher Dodd, the Chairman of the US Senate Banking Committee, recently proposed credit card reform be passed in the near future, instead of waiting all the way until July 2010. He said that lack of regulation has led to consumers being “gouged” by credit card companies on things like late fees and interest rates. Dodd along with Senator Levin (D – Michigan) proposed a bill that would outlaw the “anytime, any reason” policy creditors currently have that gives them the right to raise your APR for virtually any reason. Credit Card Forum will keep you updated on how this turns out.