With a history of offering better practices than credit card companies, many consumers will turn to local credit unions if corporate banks don’t play fair under CARD Act.

Newsweek covered a story based on a report by the Pew Health Group’s Safe Credit Cards Project that found despite the passage of the Credit CARD Act, credit card issuers have done little to remove practices deemed unfair or deceptive by the Federal Reserve.

The full Pew report examines all consumer credit cards offered online by the largest 12 bank issuers in America that control more than 90 percent of outstanding credit card debt nationwide.

For the first time ever, the report also reviewed cards offered by the largest credit unions, which only control just 1 percent of overall lending. Newsweek reported that the analysis showed credit unions offering much lower APRs, less punitive penalty rates and engaging in far fewer unfair or deceptive practices than commercial peers. For example, a late fee with a credit union has an average of $20, whereas a credit card can be as high as $39.

Joining a credit union as just as much of a positive effect on your credit reports as any other corporate bank or credit card. For more information on how to select a credit union, go to www.findacreditunion.com.

Be Sociable, Share!

•