A new report from the Center for Responsible Lending accuses the credit card industry of crying wolf over the effects of new regulations.
The nonprofit organization said rules that went into effect under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 have not resulted in significant price increases or restricted access to credit as issuers argued they would.
Since the legislation took effect, the difference between the rates that issuers advertised and the rates that consumers actually paid has narrowed, the report said. Before the completion of the rules, the rates differed by 1.7 percentage points, "implying that consumers paid $16.3 billion more than their stated interest rates would suggest." Following the implementation of the regulation, the difference fell to 0.4 percentage points, meaning consumers paid $12.1 billion less annually in "unanticipated finance charges."
