With the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 coming into effect many consumers felt that their credit cards are more protected than ever before. But how far is this true? Are all customers well protected by the rules of the CARD Act? The answers to these questions lie in the type of card that customers have. Card holders who have the standard customer credit cards are protected to a certain extent, while those with small business credit cards are void of any kind of protection since these types of cards are not covered under the CARD Act currently. This fact is substantiated by one of the studies conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust in the recent past.

Unlike presumed by many, small business credit cards are being offered by banks even to people who do not run any business. Unlike the standard cards, these cards do not come under the CARD act and hence banks can vary the interest rates, late payment fees and other charges on this card without any prior notice to card holders.

The report of the study conducted by Pew reveals that over 10 million small business credit card offers are sent to all consumers each month, irrespective of their age group and income level. Since many Americans run small businesses from the confines of their home they end up opting for these cards without realizing the repercussions. Since not all the customers will read through the fine print, they are unaware of the fact that they do not have any type of protection that other credit cards enjoy.