New Credit Card Relief Rules – American Express and Discover Adjust Bill Statements

Posted on | February 26, 2010 | No Comments

The new Credit Card Act of 2010 is creating an abundance of changes for the current credit card companies. One of those major changes is what the billing statements will show and how the billing cycles will work. By law the new billing statements must include certain information and the billing cycles may no longer be altered as they could be in the past.


Current billing statements will show an itemized list of what was purchased and where, as well as a total balance a minimum payment and when it is due. Current statements also show the interest rate and how much is owed in interest. Most current card holder receive their statements online and, and pay their bills online- however, online statements show the same information as paper statements. Under the new Act, the statement must now also include how long it would take the card holder to pay the card off if they made the minimum payment each month.

Prior to the new Act, billing cycles could be adjusted by the credit card companies at their leisure. For example, if your cycle went from the 10th to the 24th before it could now go from the 15th to the 30th without notice. This obviously could result in a late payment on the consumer’s part if they do not check the updates on a regular basis or only receive their information by mail. Both of these changes will protect the consumer, and allow them to be more knowledgeable about their debt.

Author: Sylvia Wayne

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