Credit and Debit Card Rights

The United States has enacted several laws to protect consumers who use credit cards. These laws regulate credit card fees, payments and credit terms. Fewer regulations are in place for debit cards, which means that banks generally determine the fees and terms associated with those cards.

Credit Card Fees

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 offers cardholders more protections when dealing with credit card companies. For example, companies must limit their fees to the amounts outlined in the legislation, and late-payment fees cannot be higher than a cardholder's minimum monthly payment. Also, fees charged for going over a credit limit can't exceed the overcharged amount. In other words, a company can't charge a cardholder who exceeds his credit line by $20 an over-the-limit fee that's higher than $20. However, some exceptions to these fee limits apply, especially if a cardholder is consistently late with payments. In such cases, a company can charge higher fees if it can show that the costs resulting from the late payments justify higher fees.

Credit Card Transactions

The 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits companies from discriminating against consumers in credit transactions based on age, race, sex and other characteristics. Companies must also promptly apply payments made to customers' credit accounts, due to mandates included in the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974. The same legislation requires companies to fix billing mistakes, and to ensure that such problems don't negatively affect consumers' credit scores.

Credit Terms

The Truth in Lending Act, enacted in 1968, requires lenders to be consistent in the methods used in calculating the cost of credit and disclosing those costs to consumers. The act also limits the amount cardholders have to pay if their credit cards are lost, stolen or used without their knowledge. In such cases, cardholders are liable for no more than $50 to cover fraudulent charges.

Debit Card Fees

Debit card fees aren't subject to the same regulations as credit card fees. Banks determine debit card fees, and some banks charge them monthly. Other banks charge a fee for each debit card transaction their customers make. Customers can avoid these charges in some cases. For example, they usually can use the automatic teller machines of the bank that issued their debit cards without paying a fee.

Debit Card Liability

Some banks issue debit cards with zero liability, which means that cardholders won't be required to pay for unauthorized transactions made with their debit cards. MasterCard and Visa both offer zero-liability protection to their debit card customers. Any bank that imposes liability on its customers for unauthorized debit card transactions must outline the customer's potential liability, along with its policies for handling fraudulent transactions.