CNN 2010-02-28

You can expect to have more money stay in your own pocket. That's the point of all of these credit 1 card new rules, and finally, they are here as of today. This is what the benefits should be for you. The design of it -- no rate heights on existing balances used to be. They could just raise your interest rate on the balance that it was sitting on your credit card. They are not going to do that anymore. They're going to have give you 45 days notice on any new rate hikes, and it will only apply to purchases you make from that point forward.

All and all, this is expected to save you, Kyra, about $10 billion annually 2, but what this means is there are billions of dollars in fees that the credit card companies are going to lose, and they are not going to do that very lightly, so watch out for some traps and also some places where you're going to be shout out from these new rules. Among them, company cards, small businesses that have a company card, this is for consumer credit. It's not for company cards, so remember that. Also late payers, if you are behind two payments 3, forget about it. I mean, you are in trouble again here, and they're going to have the right to charge you more to use their money if you are late, and if you are a risky 4 borrower, you could be shut out altogether.

They're just not going to be able to get the fees off the risky borrows that they used to. That also means, Kyra, if you're one of these people who put a lot on your credit card every month, you use it as a cash management tool; you pay your household expenses; you paid it all off, they're going to find some new ways to try to get fees out of you. You will probably pay more for your rewards programs or probably get fewer rewards and you could pay an annual fee, so people who did it all right and were not messy with their credit, you could end up paying a little bit of a price, too.

PHILLIPS: All right. Talk about being messy with our credit, did you have a credit card when you were in college?

ROMANS: I did. Did you?

PHILLIPS: You did...Yes, I did, but it didn't last very long. That was one of those things that I just was not mature enough to handle. I could not keep up with it, and then I remember not being able to balance my checkbook, balling (ph) at the bank. You know, you learn quickly as an 18-year-old, but things are going to change now, I guess, right, for college students in credit cards?

ROMANS: They really are. Look, now. I don't know about you, but when I went to college, when I bought my books, in the books there were credit card offers. There was a table out front where they were handing out, you know, free T-shirts and sweatshirts to sign up for credit cards. That's not going to be allowed anymore. It's going to be much harder for somebody under 21 to get a credit card. No more of these campus 5 inducements.

You might need a cosigner with good credit. So look, if your parents don't have a lot of money and they don't have good credit and they cannot help you go to college, you might have a harder time getting that credit card that a lot of people have used over the past few years to help with their expenses. You might need to get a prepaid card if you can or a debit 6 card. It's just going to be harder overall 7 to get a credit card. If you have income, if you are lucky enough to be 19 years old and have some kind of job that's giving you steady income, you will be able to get a credit card, but the idea here is to prevent people from charging up all this stuff 8 very young.

I mean, some kids don't really have an idea that this is borrowed money, and it's expensive to borrow money, and you have to pay it off. Kids are...

PHILLIPS: Because parents are paying for those credit cards and that's your first mistake. Parents should not be paying for kids to have credit cards. That's a whole nother issue.

ROMANS: And other kids are getting credit cards and their parents don't even know about it. It was awful easy to get a credit card, and you're parents don't even know about it. You are graduated from school, you know, and this was -- you know, our Romans numeral today, more than $3,000 is what kids have in college have in their credit card balances right now. If you don't have a job, I mean, just racking 9 up interest rates and fees.

So the idea here is to promote responsible borrowing of credit card, but for -- I will say that for some young people who need a credit card to help them through school and all those expenses, it's going to be more difficult.

PHILLIPS: Yes. All right. Christine, thanks so much.