CREDIT CARD BILL OF RIGHTS

Here's a first. There's a proposal that would try to curb credit card companies from ripping off consumers with ever rising fees and tricky policies.

It's call the Credit Card Bill of Rights Act. It would require credit card companies to stop

*Applying unfair interest rate hikes retroactively to balances incurred under the old rate. (That's one many of us wouldn't even notice, but we should.)

*Assessing hidden and unjustified interest charges on balances already paid off. ( Ever tried to pay off some of these credit card balances only to have them continue to bill for months afterward?)

*Piling on the debt that consumers owe by requiring them to pay off balances with lower interest rates before those with higher interest rates (Put this one right up there with banks who pay our checks from the biggest to the smallest amounts to maximize overdraft fees.)

*Charging late fees even though consumer mail their payments seven days in advance of the due date. (or how about this, paying on the due date and still getting a late fee because the consumer should have known that Saturday isn't a banking day.)