Credit card terms may be getting (a bit) better

With all the scrutiny the credit card industry has been facing, it’s about time they threw consumers a bone. And right after the opening of Maxed Out, too!

Chase, for example, has finally eliminated its medieval two-cycle billing practices. Citigroup announced in March that it will stop jacking up consumer’s rates and fees as much as it feels like, whenever it fees like doing so. Citigroup also said it will stop hiking rates if the cardholder forgets to pay some other bill on time.

Here a bone, there a bone. Nothing but scraps, really. The credit card industry doesn’t want regulation, but they know it is coming if they don’t shape up. It may be coming anyway. The market has not forced the credit card companies to change, in large part because nobody understands the terms of their credit card contract(s), anyway. I sure don’t. With a lack of understanding and a general lack of bargaining power, the credit card industry has had no incentive to change until the threat of regulation started to loom large.

The good news for consumers: now is a pretty good time to call your credit card company and demand a lower rate. If they won’t give you a lower rate, it is also looking like a pretty good time to find a card with better terms.