New credit card laws take effect, but higher rates plague consumers

When the new credit card laws officially start today, millions of Americans will see a host of improvements on their accounts; unfortunately, many have already begun to see higher interest rates. Anticipating the changes, many credit card companies have spent the last few months rushing to raise raise rates before the first changes take effect.

In the past few months, credit card companies have been racing to raise interest rates on millions of credit card holders. People with cards from American Express (AXP), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Discover (DFS), Capital One (COF) and others have been reporting increases even if they've never made a late payment and have excellent credit scores. At this point, it looks like all cardholders who carry balances from month to month will see their credit card costs increase.