Credit Card Industry Expecting Significant Changes

   

Posted: Jun 3, 2009

The credit card industry is facing big changes as a result of the recent reform bill, according to a recent report.

In an interview with Reuters, Visa chief executive Joseph Saunders said that the entire consumer credit industry will have to "rethink itself" and that the reforms will "result in less credit being offered to less people."

Saunders also told the wire service that his company is expecting to see more revenues from an expected increase in debit card use, as well as other electronic payments. As a result, the new Credit Card Holder's Bill of Rights isn't expected to particularly damage the company's bottom line.

"It doesn't look like we are going to fall off a cliff. It isn't a tsunami. It is going to be an issue that we are going to have to deal with," Sauders told Reuters.

Despite the widespread expectation that people will have less access to easy credit than they did before, the bill will also help millions of Americans reduce debt and rebuild their credit scores by helping many of them pay down debt faster. The law's provisions include a ban on arbitrary interest rate hikes and unreasonable late fees, among other things.