Get a Credit Card Through Credit Unions and Small Banks to Save

Earlier this week the credit industry was changed by new consumer protection laws. They’re hardly taking the cut in profiteering laying down, however, and it’s up to consumers to protect themselves from new money-grabbing tactics.

Now that it’s harder to arbitrarily and retroactively jack up your APR—a huge source of profit for credit card companies—they’re looking for ways to keep profits high. The hardest hit in the profit department are the companies that derive their primary or exclusive income from credit and are thus the most likely to try sneaky tactics to recoup losses like introducing new fees or upping the cost of balance transfers. At Money they report:

Smaller issuers like credit unions and regional banks tend to have better policies, adds Curtis Arnold of CardRatings.com. That’s because such institutions typically don’t view credit cards as primary profit centers, he says.

If you’re not stuck under a huge balance at a credit company with less than stellar tactics, it’s definitely time to review your current agreement—you likely got a new agreement in the mail within the last month thanks to the new regulations—and see if it’s time to switch to a smaller institution. Check out the full article at the link below for some of the best low-fee and no-fee cards on the market and the smaller credit unions and lending companies you can get them from.

Have a credit card tip or trick of your own to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

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