The Credit CARD (Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure) Act went into effect two years ago. This is a great act to protect consumers and their dealings with credit card companies. The following article provides a good summary of what credit card companies are permitted to do, what they are prevented from doing and, most importantly, what they still can do under the act to charge fees and earn a little profit in the process.
http://www.kait8.com/story/17028889/how-the-credit-card-act-does-not-protect-you
Most notably, credit card companies can prevent you from access to the courts for resolution of disputes through a binding arbitration clause. A California study found that 94 percent of the time, card issuers won arbitration. That’s a troubling statistic. Perhaps the best piece of advice to take from this article is to read the fine print and not overly rely on credit cards so you can avoid unnecessary fees and stay out of debt. We couldn’t agree more.