There are new credit card rules which every credit cardholder should know about. Why? For the very reason that those rules are made for the benefit of the cardholder. Starting today, those rules would take effect and it would be very wise if you knew about them so you are not left in the dark. A side note though, these rules do not affect corporate card holders. Nevertheless, let us take a look at some of them.

College students will no longer be preyed upon by the credit card companies. Credit card companies can no longer prey on students which is a good thing because there are lot of students ending up starting their career in debt.

Credit card companies can’t change the interest rate on your balance. Yes, this is a very good rule. Today, if you do not pay on time, credit card companies simply raise your rates as you default. With this new rule, this is no longer allowed as they would have to honor the rate they gave at the time of transaction.

They also must give 45 days notice before rate increase. This is tied to the rule above. You would no longer be in shock of getting a rate increase just like that. The cc companies would have to inform you beforehand of the increase so that you may contest it if possible.

There are other new rules and you can read more about this from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/consumer-information-credit-card-act-2009/story?id=9477942.