At 3pm Eastern today President Obama is expected to sign the credit card “bill of rights,” which is intended to protect cardholders from excessive fees and last-minute contract changes.

But what does this legislation mean for the average credit customer?

Most experts are saying that this new “bill of rights” will prompt banks to severely restrict available credit to avoid risk – some say as much as 90 billion!

Bloomberg.com quoted Andrew Caplin, an Economics professor at New York University, as saying, “The bill may stop various forms of abuse, but it will also stop some various forms of credit. If the economic recovery is going to rely on consumer spending, it will be a long wait.”

Scott Valentin, an analyst at Arlington, Virginia-based FBR Capital Markets Corp. states “You’ll see a reduction in credit available to subprime customers, and even those in the near-prime range where the card companies have a hard time gauging what the risk is.”

Experts say that this new legislation may also encourage banks to raise interest rate levels to the point where new account holders will not be able to afford them; this means that those with less than desirable credit scores may still receive cards, albeit at a heightened disadvantage. The

This new legislation may also open up new markets for predatory lenders – low to moderate income households, first-time borrowers and consumers with poor payment histories may be forced into predatory lending scenarios as traditional credit becomes unavailable.

Solutions: