Credit.com Survey: Post CARD Act Impact
By Credit.com
10.06.10
Impact of Credit Card Act
The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights has been law since February and appears to be having an impact. According to the latest survey from Credit.com, 40% of consumers say the new credit card law has made things better while 23% say it has made things worse and 37% just don’t know.
Changes to Consumer Credit Card Accounts
The survey goes on to show that 34% of consumers (down from 43% in both May 2010 and February 2010 surveys) now say their card company has still made one or some combination of the following changes to a credit card account:
- Increased their interest rate 23% (27% in February survey)
- Increased their minimum payment due 17% (15% in February survey)
- Increased their fees 15% (19% in February survey)
- Lowered their credit limit 14% (13% in February survey)
- Changed due date 12% (11% in February survey)
- Reduced their rewards program 10% (11% in February survey)
- Closed their account 7% (11% in February survey)
Consumers Who Have Accessed Their Credit Reports This Year
In light of the new push by lawmakers to give consumers better access to their credit, a new survey by Credit.com finds that while 50% of consumers have checked their credit in the past year, 47% have never checked their credit or haven’t checked it in more than a year.
The survey found:
- 50% of consumers have checked their credit in past year
- 28% have not checked their credit for more than a year
- 19% have never checked their credit
Consumers Use Debit Cards Like Cash
A new Credit.com consumer survey found that for typical purchases, consumers almost use debit cards as much as cash.
For typical purchases, which one of the following payment methods do you use most often?
- Cash - 40%
- Debit Card – 39%
- Credit Cards – 21%
These national RDD Probability Sample telephone polls were conducted for Credit.com by GfK Custom Research North America from September 17-19, 2010. A total of 1,011 interviews were completed, with roughly 510 female adults and 501 male adults. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points for the full sample.
