Now, they’re at it again, and getting even more creative — but with your help, we can stop them cold!

Thanks to a huge outcry from American cardholders, the House just passed a bill to freeze interest rate hikes on your card balances, and give you new protections starting Dec. 1 — just in time for the holiday season. Now, we need the Senate to do the same!

Email your senators right now to stop the rate increases – we can’t afford to wait.

But instead, they’ve spent the time hitting you with new tricks — like a fee for paying off card balances each month. Or variable rate cards that only “vary” if interest rates increase, but don’t give you the full break if interest rates drop in your favor.

If the companies can retool their computers to accommodate these tricks, there’s no reason they can’t abide by the new rules right now. After the recent bipartisan House vote, we have real momentum to stop these abuses. Now the Senate must hear that we can’t afford the credit card company tactics, especially with the holidays approaching.

Tell your Senators to stop the rate increases and implement reforms NOW!

After you e-mail the Senate, please forward this to anyone you know who is fed up with these tactics. We have immense power when we band together — let’s put the pressure on now!

Sincerely,
Jim Guest
President, Consumers Union

Black Friday is around the corner, and so are the fun and headaches of gift giving. Does Uncle Bart want another tie? What size is Elle – you know how she fluctuates. Well, in recent years, we’ve been picking up gift cards. If you know Aunt Myrtle likes books, she gets a gift card from Books a Million or Barnes & Noble. Uncle Bubba may get one from Beer of the Month Club. Not sure what your loved one is into? Just get a general mall gift card, or better yet one from American Express.

Better make sure that you don’t give a card to Harry, who never gets round to taking care of anything.  Gift card sellers fail to disclose that the issuer may not honor the gift cards after a certain period of time. Or there may be a monthly inactivity fee after 6-12 months, which drastically reduces the value of the card by the time Harry gets round to using it. Seriously?

Help is on the way thanks to the Credit Card act of 2009; however the gift card provisions will not go into effect in time for this holiday season. After August 2010, the gift cards will be required to remain active for five years after activation and disclose any expiration date. Issuers may not impose an inactivity fee unless there has been 12 months of inactivity and any such fees must be disclosed.

In the meantime, check out this gift card buying guide put out by the Consumer Federation of America to help you with the gift card.  Bankrate.com has done most of the legwork for you by putting together the results of its 2009 gift card survey

Happy shopping holidays! Keep us posted if you have additional information that will help the savvy shopper.