Last week, bills to protect credit card users and to regulate credit card issuers were introduced in both chambers of Congress.

The bills were introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in the House and by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Mark Udall (D-CO) in the Senate.

Some of the main provisions would:

• Prevent arbitrary interest rate increases. Issuers would have to give cardholders 45 days notice of any rate increase. Currently, the issuer can change the terms of your card with a short 15-day notice.
• Prevent issuers from retroactively increasing the interest rates on the existing balances of a cardholder unless the cardholder is more than 30 days late.
• Prohibit double-cycle billing and limits issuers from assessing fees on the remaining interest-only balance of a cardholder who has paid his bill on time.
• Provide more time to make your payment. Gives cardholders time to pay their bills by mailing statements 25 calendar days before the due date. It will also prohibit issuers from charging a late fee if cardholder can present proof of mailing payment within seven days of due date.
• Prevent credit scores from dropping because of pre-approved credit cards. Cardholders who are pre-approved for a card have the right to reject it up until the moment they activate it without having their credit adversely impacted.
• Prevent issuers from using the monthly payment to pay off the lowest interest rate first. Issuers should fairly credit and allocate payments at different rates.
• Prevent issuers from imposing excessive fees on cardholders. The proposed reforms would cap the number of “over-the-limit” fees card companies are allowed to charge to three. Some issuers currently charge an unlimited number of fees when consumers exceed their credit limit.

Many legislators had pushed these same provisions last year (a similar bill passed the House but idled in the Senate), and with President Obama in office–and his promise to achieve credit card reform–the bills have a good chance of passage this year.