Starting on August 20, credit card issuers were required to give consumers 45 days notice before hiking interest rates or fees. The new rules also make it harder for customers to incur late fees. Now, bills must be sent to customers 21 days before payments are due. This is the first in a wave of regulations that banks will face.

A slew of restrictions are coming in February, the AP notes. This may ring in a new era of consumer credit frugality. You have to think that getting a credit card will be a lot harder than it was a few years ago. But perhaps that is how it should be. Credit was just too easy for people--including those who could least afford it. 

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