Despite new credit card laws, paying off debt never more important than now

Reading news on the internet this morning I saw a reminder that the new federal credit card act or, Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, goes into effect very soon.  Of course we all know, if we’ve been paying the least bit of attention, that the credit card companies started re-thinking and planning their strategies to find ‘loop holes’ around the act, as soon as it passed as law.

The bottom line is that the short-lived days of great deals on credit cards has long since passed.  And, that’s not all bad.  Most Americans continue to ‘live above their means’.  And it doesn’t help that other basic living expenses, like health care and housing, continue to rise ridiculously, tempting many to charge for things they may even need but can’t truly afford.

It must be frustrating for lawmakers – I suppose it isn’t possible to foresee all of the clever ways credit card companies dream up to work around the laws and continue to make their profits.  I guess this is ‘great capitalism’ at work.

Click here to read a great article about the new federal protections and the ways credit card companies are working around them to continue increasing their profits.  As the article mentioned several times, the most important two things you can do to ‘fight back’ are:

1)  Be proactive about your credit card accounts.  As the author of the article states, “You need to actively monitor your accounts and thoroughly read all of the information they send to you.”

2)  Use your credit cards wisely.  Meaning: only use them as a last resort and pay off your credit cards as quickly as you can.  No ‘new news’ here.  

I think Suze Orman would agree!