Financial Crossroads Orange County California talks about 2010 Credit Card Reform

March 6, 2010 - PRLog -- We are now looking at what credit reform 2010 is all about, some of it is positive and some of it is not as positive as we would like as consumers.


1. Restoration of lower annual percentage rate.
If you are late over 60 days and are able to catch back up with your delinquent payments, the new law requires restoration of previous lower interest rates. This is good except that you may have ended up making payments including your catch up amount that equals about 90% of your payments going directly to interest and payments.

2. Payments actually go towards the highest interest rates first.
Many families have been angered and complained about the high interest rate traps that were in place prior to the new law. Families complained that the payments were going towards the lowest interest rates first. We at Financial Crossroads in California feel this is a huge positive; especially for folks that are able to make more than a minimum payment as they are more likely resolve their debt issue on their own.

3. Increased protection on gift credit cards
I am not sure how you feel about giving a gift to a family member or receiving a gift credit card, only to find out that your $100 gift credit card has become worthless or that fees have eaten into the card to make it worth $50 because you only wanted to use it in an emergency. Financial Crossroads is enthusiastic about this new gift card protection as the non-use penalties do not start until after a full 12 month period. In addition to the 12 month protection; one of the other complaints of gift credit card expirations now has increased to 5 years before it becomes void.

The complaints that most families have against the credit card companies is not that they did not spend the money.

The complaint is that even with the new credit card reform laws the credit card companies have an unfair advantage on how they can change payment and interest rate terms without even one missed payment. This sometimes forces families that would like to resolve debts by a normal payment process into situations that force them into bankruptcy, consumer credit counseling and sometimes debt settlement. Although it may be uncomfortable, working with a legitimate debt settlement company like Financial Crossroads in California may be the answer to resolve their debt situation in an ethical and efficient way.

Although Financial Crossroads has looked at the statistics on complaints by industry and notes that credit card companies have the highest complaints of any industry some of the recent reforms are positive.

Here is a recent comment:

"You all have been a big help and were very kind and considerate every time I called in. I feel very relieved that I don't have any credit card debt anymore."

- Joan W.


If you would like clarity on options call a counselor at Financial Crossroads in Santa Ana California at (888) 382-2439

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Based in Santa Ana, Financial Crossroads is a member of The Association of Settlement Companies (TASC) and offers solutions and programs to Americans looking to get out of debt. Financial Crossroads uses a multi-faceted approach to resolve credit card and unsecured debt.