I hate credit card companies, but I think we can do something about it. I know, I am not alone, but it seems that these companies and companies like them personify big machine corporate evil set against the little man.

Monday, February 22, 2010 represents the “new deal” with credit card companies because the government has reformed credit card law.

According to the new law, this is what has to happen in your relationship with credit card companies now:

The due date on your bill must be on the same date each month. In other words, they can’t move it around to be sneaky. If it falls on a holiday, the customers get an extra day to pay.

No fee is allowed to be larger than your limit UNLESS YOU AGREE TO IT. *Note: You must now keep a more vigilant lookout for these greedy companies and their sneakiness because they will try more than ever to be sneaky in delivering bad news so you agree to it without really knowing or seeing it. You know what I mean – they send you 10,000 words and hide four words inside the 10,000 that they are obligated to share with you. If you do nothing, you are actually AGREEING to something no one would otherwise agree to. Watch out for this! It is coming!

Interest rates cannot now be increased because a customer has had trouble paying other bills not associated with your credit card bill. (***Why was this EVER allowed? This is not a bonus. It is a tragedy. It is our opinion that credit card company employees that came up with these “guidelines” originally should go to jail. You should never be able to prey upon people in financial trouble).

Interest rates cannot increase for 12 months on a new card. (**Note this does not mean they can increase it AFTER the 12 months – and they will).

What have the credit card companies done to help themselves out?

Well, they haven’t been inactive. First, they have such a strong lobby that they were able to have the 2009 reform bill take place a year later in 2010. However, now you SHOULD educate yourself and protect your family now about how they are changing to profit from you more in the future because you are not paying attention.

You see, the credit card companies feel they can take advantage of us because they always have taken advantage of us.

According to The Wall Street Journal (February 20, 2010), the average American has approximately an average of $5,400 in credit card debt. Some people have $20,000 or $30,000 or even $50,000 or more in credit card debt.

Listen up!

Credit card companies are working to establish more and higher yearly fees. If you have been reading this blog, you know that we believe you should avoid credit cards that have any membership fees. Even in the credit crunch, there is too much competition to put up with this. Don’t know if you have a yearly membership fee? Better check it out. Check your agreements, call the company and don’t forget to negotiate.

According to The Wall Street Journal, after February 22, 2010, credit card companies can still:

Bring forth new member and/or yearly fees on credit cards (this is pure profit for them if you allow it; don’t allow it).

Raise interest rates on new cards (Be watchful; always consider these people the enemy of your family).

Increase teaser rates on balance transfer offers (Always read the fine print).

What can you do? Again, according to the Wall Street Journal, you can:

Ask credit card companies to review your account and lower your rate.

Companies do reviews fairly often (sometimes every six months); the more focused you are on these people as the enemies of your family, the more you will stay on top of them and limit your pain in years to come). Starting in August they will be required to review every six months. You should stay on top of them all the time to reduce their opportunity to continue to take advantage of you and your family.

And negotiate.

That’s right. Negotiate.

Don’t just give in. Always negotiate with the credit card companies to push down interest while you pay off the balance.

Private equity groups are constantly working on reducing debt in their deals so they can profit.

As a private American family, you should always be working to give yourself advantages with interest rates and fees. Reduce and then eliminate – always.

Your # 1 goal should be to first reduce and then eliminate all credit card debt. Credit card debt (and debt in general) is the #1 impairment of building wealth among the middle class today.

Credit card companies, banks and all corporations have very smart people constantly trying to avoid breaking the law BUT still taking advantage of the little man to make MORE PROFIT.

Be wary of this fact and work constantly to keep your personal finance center true:

CASH IS KING.

CREDIT IS ACTUALLY BAD for your family.

Work to build wealth. Start with savings.

You should have 15 to 18 months of expenses in money market savings and certificates of deposit.

To build that as quickly as possible, use our “1% Savings Plan” (****Check past blog entries to find this simple plan and put it into action for yourself or get HOW TO SURVIVE ANY FINANCIAL CRISIS at www.middleclassmoney.com).

The bottom-line truth is that you are in charge of your own financial future.

You must develop your own plan.

And you can.

HELPING YOUR KIDS GET AHEAD

If you think I was born saving money, you are wrong. My family is filled with hillbillies from Louisiana. There are members of my family that don’t believe in 401ks or IRAs. I was not brought up to save and invest regularly and I have made every mistake you can think about when it comes to money. I have had to learn the absolute hard way how to get savings on track and make it a part of your life without killing your lifestyle. I have had to learn the hard way how companies mislead with marketing. It is my mission to share what I have learned about regularly saving with my own children and also share it with you. That’s why we have a lot of “free” (blogs like www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com and www.stickyasset.com/blog and groups on Facebook like “Coupons & Coupon Codes”)!

In this country we don’t do enough to teach our children about money, managing money, saving regularly (and automatically), compound interest and steady investing for a long-term future. As a parent, we are always concerned that they get a good education and go to a good college so they can make a lot of money or have a valued career path. The truth is that we could do our children the biggest favor and one of the best things by sharing with them sound saving and investing principles.

You can join our free Facebook group (or have your children do it, too) by searching in the Facebook bar on your “wall” for “Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves.” Click on “become a fan.” It’s free and it ties our free blogs into that group.

If you want to give your children the same information we are giving ours, you can purchase the only thing we sell on any of our blogs or groups. It’s called “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” and you can get it for only $4.95 at www.middleclassmoney.com.

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck!

Loyd Ford
www.stickyasset.com/blog
www.middleclassmoney.com
www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com
www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth
www.stickyasset.com

Connect with us on Facebook with these free groups:
“Coupons & Coupon Codes”
“Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves”
“Saving Money”