RALEIGH, N.C. – State Employees CU said Friday it has become the first credit union to adopt new ‘Safe Credit Card Standards,’ designed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.
The guidelines, developed by the Pew Charitable Trusts, are: cardholders will be charged only the interest rate they agreed to pay; fees will be imposed responsibly and will be transparent to the cardholder; cardholders will have sufficient time to review and pay their bills; payments will be applied first to balances carrying the highest interest rate.
Introduction of the voluntary standards comes as Congress is poised to pass new laws barring a variety of unfair credit card practices, such as double-cycle billing, universal default and retroactive rate increases.
The Pew standards were developed in conjunction with the Sandler Foundation, created by Herb and Marion Sandler, the former owners of Golden West S&L.
"State Employees’ Credit Union has been working with representatives from The Pew Charitable Trusts for more than two years and is pleased to see the Standards for Safe Credit Cards released," said Shirley Bell, chairman of the $18 billion credit union’s board of directors, in a statement. "The credit union is also pleased to support pending credit card legislation that will help all consumers."
