Economy

The House of Representatives passed a bill to move up the effective date for the new credit card law to Dec. 1, 2009. The original effective date was August 2010, which then moved to February, before this new bill was passed because lawmakers sensed that credit card companies were conducting unfair practices since they knew they would soon be restricted by the law.

Unfair Credit Card Practices

There have been reports from cardholders around the country for many months that they're credit card issuers have been participating in unfair practices. Some of these practices include double-cycle billing, unexplained interest hikes, drastically lowered limits, and even card cancellations with no explanation. In addition, credit card companies had left bad tastes in many mouths because of their insistence upon coaxing financially-inexperienced college students into signing up for cards in exchange for freebies, resulting in many teens and young adults having damaged credit.

The Affects of Moving the Effective Date

Lawmakers hope that by moving the effective date of the new law, cardholders will be able to breathe a much-needed sigh of relief. On the other side of the coin, the new effective date will require that credit card companies enforce new strategies for managing cardholder accounts almost immediately, including allowing cardholders the ability to reject changes to their contracts (see more about the Credit Card Bill of Rights).

Currently, the bill is still moving through Congress. It must be passed by Senate before it can reach President Obama to be signed into law.

Have you experienced unfair credit card practices from your card issuer? Share your story ...

According to White house reps, the $787 billion stimulus package has created or saved around 640,000 as of October 30, 2009. While these numbers sound promising, they don't seem to reflect the continuous rise in unemployment that we see with our eyes every day. Of course, this doesn't mean what the White House says isn't true. Maybe it just needs a little bit more analysis.

What the White House Says

According to the White House, of the 640,329 jobs that have been created or saved since the start of the stimulus package, the largest numbers have gone to the following:

• 325,000 went to teachers and school staff
• 80,000 went to construction

Also, the following states have benefited the most:

• 110,000 went to the State of California
• New York State received 40,000
• 34,000 were allocated to Washington State

A review of the White House data from the Christian Science Monitor revealed that $159 billion in stimulus spending is providing around 2,100 jobs for every one million people in the country. However, recent reports show that some estimates may have been overstated.

The Reality of Unemployment

While job creation looks promising according to the numbers from the White House, no one can dispute that fact that unemployment is still on the rise. Many more people have lost jobs than have become employed. In fact, 10 million workers have been laid off since the recession and 15 million are out of work, according to government stats. So hearing of job creation doesn't necessarily ease the nerves of the millions competing for the same jobs.

If you're actively looking for work, finding a job can be equated to finding a needing in a haystack. However, the situation isn't hopeless. There are said to be more jobs being created in health care, construction, the school system and hi-tech industries to name a few.

Have you or someone you know received a stimulus-created job?

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