The nine months that Congress gave banks last year to clean up their gouging of consumers and usurious rates on interest charges during hard economic times is up. The changes should have gone into immediate effect when the bill was past, but the "poor" banks needed time to find ways around the spirit and language of the law, so the corporate/industrial/political complex gave it to them. Now we can see what they are up to. Like other loopholers such as tax cheaters, Enron accountants, off-shore bank accounts, used car salesmen, corporate lawyers, most customer service manglers, and identity thieves, banks have a never-ending way of finding loopholes that enable them to continue to stick it to their customers, especially the ones who need the most help in managing their credit and finances. The new legislation kicks in now, but you would hardly know that business practices are signifcantly different.

New loopholes are replacing the old loopholes. For example, there are now higher fees for purchases made outside the US. Rolling-over balances is now subject to higher fees. If you are late with a payment you lose your rewards, unless you pay to get them back. And to show that they can get around new requirements that require a 45 day notice of an increase in interest rates (note that it is just a notice, not a cap or something you can negotiate), banks are introducing "variable rates" that essentially lets them do what they have always done and change the rates on a variable basis when they chose to do so.

If you use a corporate card or you are a small business, there is a double standard: the new rules don't apply.

Of course, Obama's good idea of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency was scrapped, and is not likely to see the light of day, only the dark of night, as long as banks can now, thanks to the Supremes, fund political campaigns with impunity.