So, the users of American plastic (credit cards and debit cards) must now be a relaxed lot of spenders because some provisions of the CARD Act 2009, which President Barack Obama signed into law in May 2009, have become effective, though the remaining provisions will be effective only from February 2010. But now make sure that you do not throw away the notices that come with your credit card bill (or account statement). Those ‘useless looking’ notices are the ones thoughtfully made mandatory on the banks/credit card companies by the CARD Act.

The CARD Act (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009) arguably encompasses the most significant reforms in the history of credit cards. It tries to address some of the most serious questions that consumer awareness groups like the advocacy group Consumer Action have been clamoring for to discipline credit card companies that kept most of the tricky parts of card transactions hidden from the inexperienced and most gullible card users. Now card issuers won't be able to raise rates on an existing balance unless a consumer is at least 60 days late, for example.

Now the credit card issuers will have to give you a 45-day notice of any major changes in card terms, such as an increase in your interest rate. They also must offer you the option to decline a rate increase, pay off the balance at your current rate and use the 45 days to find another card with more favorable terms. This is a significant change in favor of the card users as they get extra 30 days for changing cards if they do not want to stay with the current card company. Earlier card issuers were required to give only a 15-day notice of a rate increase.

So, as I said in the first paragraph, you need to pay closer attention to mailings from your credit card company and know what your current account terms are. If you are in the old habit of ignoring notices, you lose the opportunity to take corrective action, and by that you allow the credit card company to charge you heavily on many counts. Don’t forget you have to know the facts about your credit card as they currently exist, including your interest rate, credit limit, etc. It pays to become a more vigilant and educated consumer!

Also important is the requirement that card issuers must give consumers more time to pay their credit card bill by mailing billing statements 21 days before the due date in place of the current 14-day requirement. That gives consumers, in many cases, an additional week to make their payments and more control over keeping the 30-day late payments off their credit report. But see that it does not make you complacent about paying your bill.

If you use snail mail, start paying online or over the telephone, although some card companies charge for it. It saves a lot of time that snail mail takes for delivery of your payments. But from coming February, when the tougher provisions of the CARD Act take effect, card issuers will be barred from charging consumers to pay by phone.

The law is to protect you from abusive card practices, but you also must take responsibility for being your own watchdog. The new changes come as the banking industry has been hiking minimum payments on borrowers, yanking back credit lines and canceling cards. Earlier, card issuers often hiked rates on consumers due to some triggering events, such as a late payment, that is in the account application.

The law also curbs certain controversial practices, such as double-cycle billing, in which a late-paying customer is charged interest on a previous month's balance that has been paid in full. Those changes will not take effect until February, while new disclosure rules for credit cards plans will be implemented in July.

The CARD Act will make the game a little fairer for card users. But how will you know if the card company is following the new law if you don't know what the law is? If you want to know the provisions that are effective now, go to www.consumer-action.org and in the search field, type in "New credit card provisions."