Everyone’s getting tons of fees tacked on to their credit cards, especially if they have bad credit. The fee-happy creditors aren’t just stopping at the consumer, though – they’re also hitting businesses.

“So what?” you’re thinking. “If they have to pay some fees, maybe the credit card companies will get off my back for a change.”

Though your logic is impeccable, there are quite a few reasons you should care when your neighbor’s house is on fire (so to speak). Here are just a couple:

You’ll Still Wind Up Paying the Fees

As everyone tries to monitor their budgets and save money, there’s probably not been enough discussion about what to do with the money you save. Most Americans right now have huge amounts of debt and no savings to speak of. When you only have enough money to put toward one or the other, which is the smart investment for the future? Which will save you the most money in the long run?

In almost every instance, it is far better to put your extra cash into paying off debt. Though it is a huge advantage to have savings put aside, the more immediate problem is the huge interest rates and fees the credit card is costing you (see this post). Even if you save up several thousand dollars into a savings account and still make the minimum payments on your credit card, you’ll still wind up in the hole. Here’s how.

Everyone’s been giving out credit repair advice for free these days, and we’re all for it. By and large, here’s the consensus: paying off your credit bills right now = very good idea. It’ll save you money in the long haul. A lot of money, actually.

Great, you say. But if I had the money to pay off the debt, I probably wouldn’t have the debt in the first place, smartypants. How am I supposed to get rid of these bills when I don’t have the money for them right now? 

Fair point. Here’s at least one place to find some extra cash this month, and every month thereafter: your electric bill.

Yesterday we started a post where we outlined some of the new credit card laws; and how they affect you. Today, we're talking about a couple more of the new laws that you need to know about as well.

Advance Notice on Rate Increases

This one doesn’t seem major, but trust us, it is.

Right now, your credit card is subject to the Truth in Lending Act, and it says that you get a 15-day heads up before your credit card company increases your rate. This is problematic for a couple of reasons.

One of them is that if your credit card company has good timing, they can increase your rate just in time for that new rate to apply to your next bill. Since you only had a 15-day heads up and you’re billed every 30 days, you may have already spent money that month that you would not have spent, had you known your credit card rate was about to go through the roof. Too late. You already spent the money. You can stop using the card after THIS billing period, but you’re stuck with this month’s new and improved bottom line.

Credit card companies have been abusing their cardholders for years, encouraging them in bad credit habits and recouping tons of money in fees. In an attempt to curb these practices, President Obama recently passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (also called the Credit CARD Act, because legislators can be clever too).

The credit card companies aren’t the only ones to blame, though. They got away with their tricky little ways for years largely because the general public didn’t know enough about the way their credit cards worked to keep those abuses from happening. So we’re going to go through the major components of the Credit CARD Act for you, to sort out what exactly is going on with your credit cards right now.

Credit CARD Act: Retroactive Rate Increases