Frick’s Bill
For those of you who don’t think applying for credit at department stores can affect your credit, tell that to Frederick County Delegate Sue Hecht. She signed up for just two department store credit cards to obtain a 20% discount during her holiday shopping late last year. A few months later, during a credit review she discovered that her score had dropped. And this is someone who has her house and car paid for in full, and never leaves a balance on her monthly credit card payments.
It is a little known fact that credit card companies can increase your interest rates whenever you open a new account. Should consumers be penalized for applying for department store cards in order to receive discounts? Maryland Delegate C. William Frick thinks otherwise and has a bill designed to protect consumers against scenarios like this.
Frick’s bill would prevent credit card companies from imposing penalties, such as higher interest rates, based on factors other than customers not fulfilling the terms of their contracts, which require things like making payments on time.
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