A credit card can be a convenient way to manage your expenses, or an expensive way to rack up debt and exorbitant fees. If the U.S. Senate passes the credit card reform bill it’s considering this week, that could change. The bill would overhaul a lot of the regulations governing credit card agreements, and has the potential to help Americans avoid unwittingly taking on more debt than they can afford.

A version of the bill passed the House of Representatives last week, but the Senate revision may end up being a little different. The key provisions are expected to pass without much change, so barring any surprises you can expect to see most if not all of the following changes once the legislation takes effect:

• Less tiny print: For starters, you can say goodbye to tiny and unreadable fine print: all disclosures must be in 12-point font or larger. This is such a no-brainer it’s hard to imagine anyone but magnifying glasses manufacturers opposing it.

• No sudden/arbitrary rate increases: When you sign up for a credit card, or any other loan, you expect to know the interest rate you’ll be charged. Recently, however, a lot of credit card customers have been surprised with arbitrary rate increases, even if they never missed a payment. Under the new law, if you are carrying a balance at 10% fixed APR, you’ll know that interest rate won’t change (unless your monthly payment is late, or it’s a promotional rate that expired). And if it does change, you’ll have at least 45 days’ notice, plenty of time to look around for a better card and interest rate.

• High-interest debt automatically paid first: Speaking of interest rates, paying off your highest-interest loans first is always a good idea. It can be hard to actually do that, however, when you have multiple interest rates on one credit card. If you got a cash advance on your card at a high interest rate, and also did a balance transfer at a lower rate, your credit card company can apply your monthly payments to the lower-rate loan. Under the new credit card reform bill, though, high-interest debt will be automatically paid off first, just as personal finance experts have recommended for years.

The bill includes other rules designed to keep teens out of debt, as well as some more technical regulations of the way interest is calculated on existing balances (US News has a good summary of the rest of the changes). Once the Senate finishes its add-ons and amendments, the bill is expected to be voted into law within the next few days.