The upside: Credit card minimums imposed by retailers now cannot exceed $10. Only the Federal Reserve can raise that limit, which theoretically will protect consumers from spending more at the local store or coffee shop just to hit the minimum requirement. (Read more about this here.)

Also, the Fed will have the power to limit interchange fees on debit-card transactions. (Interchange fees are the fees that card issuers, Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) collect from merchants as a percentage of each transaction.) However, the rule applies only to banks, not to Visa and MasterCard. Banks usually charge stores 1% to 2% for each transation, but retailers say that lower fees could allow them to cut prices and bring on more workers.

The downside: Retailers now legally have the right to require a minimum charge of $10, if they so choose, in order for you to be able to use a credit card. This may be prohibitive if you just want to buy a candy bar, for instance. (On the flip side, the question is whether you really need to be using a credit card to buy a single candy bar, rather than paying the $1 or $2 cash.) Prior to this law, merchants were actually breaking violating their contracts with Visa and MasterCard, which required to accept all transactions regardless of their amount.

Also, an elimination of yet additional bank revenue streams (this time in the form of interchange fees) might lead to introducing fees in other areas – higher interest rates, lower rewards, or the disappearance of ‘free checking’ accounts.
Financial Adviser Disclosures

The upside: Financial advisers must now disclose all fees, any disciplinary actions and potential conflicts of interest, such as commissions. Brokers who sell stocks, bonds, annuities, and other investments have not always been required to make such disclosures, permitting them to act in their or their company’s best interests, and not yours.

The downside: This isn’t a done deal. The SEC has commissioned a six-month study to determine whether average investors are sufficiently protected by the rules already in place or whether something stronger is necessary.

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