The new federal regulations that will take effect in July 2010 are the most sweeping changes in the credit card industry in nearly 30 years, offering a variety of protections against credit card practices that unfairly target consumers struggling with debt. But there is an exclusion in the rules - none of the protections apply to commerical credit cards - those issued to corporations and small business owners, including travel, entertainment, fleet, purchasing and prepaid cards.

Benjamin Olson, an attorney for the Federal Reserve, and two other agency representatives recently answered questions about the new rules at an implementation session between regulators from the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration and other lending institutions. The briefing was designed to encourage card issuers who haven’t yet made plans to implement the new rules to begin to do so.

Another issue that hasn’t yet been addressed regarding the new credit card regulations concerns returning military personnel. It is uncertain how the new regulations will affect them when they return home from active service duty. Under the Service Members’ Civil Relief Act, interest rates must be lowered to 6% for military personnel who are deployed for active duty. When they return from duty, interest rates are increased to previous levels. But the new rules limiting interest rate increases to only specific circumstances does not include military personnel returning from duty. Now that the issue has been recognized, Olson said that a solution will have to be found to fix it.

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