Yesterday was an important day for American consumers. It was a day that Main Street stuck it to Wall Street and — even if just for a moment — Congress could celebrate having actually accomplished something.It was the first day the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act went into effect. President Obama signed the CARD bill back in May as part of a campaign promise to restore regulation as a function of government.On its most basic level, the bill highlights the predatory nature of the credit card industry. No longer will the card companies be able to enact “universal default,” where missing a payment on an unrelated obligation with, say, the power company, could trigger penalty rates on your credit card.Beginning yesterday, card companies must give you 45 days notice before they make major changes to the cardholder agreement — particularly important when it comes to upping interest rates (and if the rates are hiked, they can’t apply to existing balances).For customers who have different interest rates for the same account, when you send the company a check for payment, it will go to the account with the highest APR.College students may be familiar with credit cards — 84 percent of undergraduates had credit cards in 2008 — 82 percent of them having carried a month’s balance and incurring finance charges, according to Sallie Mae, the largest provider of student loans.Early student debt has long been a problem. Now anyone under 21 must prove financial ability or have a parent cosign for a new card. Also gone are the free T-shirts and gifts often handed out on college campuses — previously a fixture at LSU football games. If universities do have pacts with credit card companies, they must be publicly disclosed.But perhaps the biggest change has been in the way credit card holders are presented with information about their account balance. The new law forces the credit card company to display for its clients the length of time that will be required to pay off the debt if they only pay the minimum balance.An example of the new billing regulations was made available by the Federal Reserve. It shows it would take a card holder with $3,000 worth of debt 11 years to pay off the balance if he or she only made the minimum payment. It also shows that if the holder instead pays an additional $13 extra per month, the balance will be paid off in just three years.  Making this information available — and in easy to understand language — is an important step toward promoting financial responsibility.Wall Street historian John Steele Gordon likened the new regulations to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to require fast-food restaurants to display the number of calories in the food. When the consumer has information handy, they make smarter decisions.Of course, we must  remember credit cards are a privilege. They are also a service and therefore must provide a profit to someone. Credit-card companies are notorious for their predatory marketing (“you’re pre-approved!”), we should remember it is ultimately the consumer who decides to go from paper to plastic.Some might argue the new rules are too intrusive on free enterprise in our country. But the bottom line here is the rules aren’t meant to give an unfair advantage to consumers. They are simply a safeguard so consumers don’t get hassled, coerced or bamboozled.Sure, credit-card holders should take responsibility for their actions, but when companies intentionally make it difficult for them to act responsibly — by either burying their terms in fine print or engaging in deceptive practices — that’s when government needs to step in.Rest assured the banks will not go hungry. In fact, they have already hit back with new fees, higher interest rates and other ploys meant to circumvent the new laws.The CARD act is a refreshing example of consumer-oriented legislation, but it is only a brief victory. In the multi-billion dollar credit card industry, there is no shortage of incentive for banks to launch a new offensive. There will be new battles, and we’ll need a competent government to fight them.Mark Macmurdo is a 23-year-old history and economics senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mmacmurdo.—-Contact Mark Macmurdo at [email protected]