How is the US looking to deal with people having trouble paying their credit card bills?

Well the US credit card companies are certainly taking their responsibilities for advising people who are having difficulty seriously at last.

Some of the Major providers have launched a web site and free phone number which can be accessed by consumers finding it difficult to keep up with repayments or general credit issues.

This is part of a National Campaign termed “Help With My Credit” which is there to help consumers but it is also being used by the major providers as a way of dealing with the mounting defaults on credit card payments.

The venture is backed by Citigroup Inc., Discover Financial Services, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of America Corp., Visa Inc., and MasterCard Inc.

The website itself offers advice on what options you have when you find yourself in financial difficulty and it guides you through these.

This is being done at a cost for these providers but at least they are taking a lead here to assist consumers. It is unknown how many defaults this will stop but education at this stage will always help.

Perhaps we will see a similar process occurring in UK as the big banks get together and start to educate their customers in a similar way. We will wait and see.