Accelerated Debt Consolidation, Inc. says new credit card law will get credit consumers motivated to start seeking debt relief sooner. The new law requires banks to disclose how long it will take to pay off balances at the minimum payments and they must also disclose how much interest will be paid. In addition to this, they will be required to give an example of how long it would take at an increased payment and the savings by doing so. Many consumers never really pay attention to this until it is too late and they are overloaded with high interest debt.
“For years counselors from Accelerated Debt Consolidation have hoped for something that would motivate credit consumers to seek advice through credit counseling and debt management sooner before the consumers amount of debt is out of control and the required minimum payments are too difficult to afford," says Jim Young Accelerated Debt Consolidation, Inc. "The new credit card law now requires banks to disclose on billing statements how long it will take for a consumer to pay off their balances if they stayed at the minimum payments and they must disclose the amount of interest that will be paid if they continue with minimum payments. Credit counselors and debt management professionals see this as an effective eye opener and an advantage to consumers."
"This creates several advantages for the consumer. If credit consumers begin contacting credit counseling and debt management agencies when they are only up to 30% of their credit limits for example, their options for reducing their debt will be greatly improved. The first advantage will be that if the accounts they are carrying balances on are at high rates and would benefit from a debt management program they will be able to get the accounts in the program with more affordable payments by doing it sooner at the smaller balances. Another advantage would be if they were carrying balances on accounts that do not offer good rates through a Debt Management Program they would be in a better position to transfer those balances to other accounts that offer better rates and start reducing the debt faster. In some cases by utilizing balance transfer offers, they may find they do not need a Debt Management Program at all and they may just start making larger payments on their own."
No interest rate increases for the first year is another benefit of the new law. Credit card companies cannot increase interest rates for the first 12 months however there are some exceptions. Listed below:
1. If a card has a variable interest rate tied to an index, the rate can go up whenever the index goes up.
2. If there is an introductory rate, it must be in place for at least 6 months, after that the rate can revert to the "go to" rate the company disclosed when consumers first got the card.
3. If consumers are more than 60 days late in paying their bill, the rate can go up.
4. If consumers are in a workout agreement and don&39;t make payments as agreed, the payment can go up.
"Consumers that seek professional advice sooner would be more likely to be in a position where they would still have available credit on some credit cards that they could keep for business travel and emergencies," says Young. "The most beneficial aspect of consumers seeking professional advice sooner would be that they would be educated sooner on just how much interest they could end up paying, they would receive educational material on proper use of credit, curbing their spending sooner and they would have more options open to them before all of their accounts are maxed out, at high rates and they are just stuck with the high monthly obligation even if a Debt Management Program reduces the payment and interest rates. In general this new information that will be included on credit card billing statements may get consumers to take action sooner which will result in getting out of debt faster and at lower payments.nbsp;
To learn more about Accelerated Debt Consolidation, Inc., please visit http://www.debtsynergy.com.
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