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An act passed by Congress and signed into law by the President last May sought to regulate rampant abuses by the credit card industry. That law just went into effect after a nine-month waiting period that in effect enabled companies to adjust their rules and policies. The changes were designed to to bypass the most stringent regulatory measures such as sudden hikes in interest rates and excessive fees. Now, some companies have begun charging annual fees, long considered a thing of the past, “inactivity fees” if an account has not been used for six months, as well as a host of smaller fees, to make up for the revenue loss. Lines of credit have also been dramatically reduced or dropped altogether. However, the newly implemented law does limit credit card solicitation to people under the age of 21, and on college campuses, as well as the use of T-shirt and coupon giveaways in exchange for signing up.

GUEST: Robert Manning, co-founder of the newly created non-profit Responsible Debt Relief Institute, and author of Credit Card Nation.

Find out more at www.responsibledebtrelief.org.