Unauthorized Charges

• Federal law limits consumer liability for unauthorized charges that occur if a credit card is lost, stolen or used without permission. Legally, consumers are usually only liable for the first $50 of unauthorized charges. Regardless, many credit card companies have a zero-liability policy, meaning that they do not require cardholders to pay anything for unauthorized purchases resulting from loss, theft or fraud.
  
  

Billing Procedures

• The U.S. Fair Credit Billing Act protects consumer credit ratings by requiring card issuers to credit payments to customer accounts upon receipt, and to promptly correct billing mistakes (e.g., failing to credit a customer's account after the customer returned charged merchandise to a retailer). Creditors must also take steps to ensure that billing errors don't damage the customer's credit score.
  
  

Fees and Interest

• The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 helps to protect consumers from unreasonable fees and interest-rate increases on credit card accounts. For example, card issuers generally can't increase interest rates on a customer's existing balance, and must provide 45 days' notice before raising interest rates on new charges. Furthermore, card issuers can't impose a late-payment fee that is higher than a customer's minimum monthly payment, or increase a customer's interest rate simply because he missed a payment on a bill from a different company.
  
  

Considerations

• As of 2010, stricter regulation of interest rates and fees is making credit cards less profitable for issuers. According to Amanda Gengler of "Money" magazine, this means that consumers should watch out for new fees that card issuers may impose to bolster their profits. For instance, some credit card companies are adding annual processing fees to customer accounts, or imposing "inactivity fees" on customers who don't use their credit cards often enough. Others apply a $1 processing fee to customers who receive statements in the mail, instead of online. Therefore, Gengler advises consumers to read credit card agreements carefully, and look for attractive terms from smaller banks and credit unions.