With the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 implementation date just days away it looks like credit card issuers are not the only ones that are paying close attention to consumers’ actions. Now many prepaid card issuers are also paying attention because many are seeing the perfect opportunity to gain valuable consumers now more than ever.

For prepaid cards, there are many great opportunities but two seem to have priority. Those two are that of college students and those that are unhappy with their current financial institution. When it comes to students under the age of 21, credit cards will be one thing that will be much harder to come by as they will not be able to get one without an adult co-signer or proof of ability to pay off the debt. Wi

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As we get closer to the implementation date of the CARD Act, experts and consumers alike are looking to see what credit card issuers are planning to do next. If the recent test of raising interest rates to 79.9% performed by Premier Bank was any indication then we could very well be at the beginning of what will feel like a very long year.

With many of the most hectic changes occurring within the last quarter of 2009, issuers targeted both those that were in good standing as well as those that were not. During that time cardholders saw major movements in every aspect of owning and using a credit card. These changes included record interest rate increases, decreases in credit limits, the purging of rewards, and huge increases in annual fees among other fees.

So will there be at least one more push by the banks to find ways to make up the revenue that is lost by defaults and charge-offs?

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In the always rocky relationship between credit card issuers and consumers, 2009 was particularly contentious. This was the year when millions of consumers discovered the hard way that credit card companies, despite lengthy grace period and sweet promises of 0% APR sugar Daddy offers, are not their friend.

And, while card issuers so far have had the upper hand in the great Credit Card Wars of the early 21st century, credit card companies may be about to (re)discover a bitter lesson of their own: if want your business to thrive, don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Credit cardholders across the country over the past year have been protesting loudly, but largely in vain, as card issuers aggressively increased interest rates, slashed credit limits, increased penalty fees, and in numerous other ways tightened credit card terms. P

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