Thanks to part of the credit card reform law that requires credit card companies to review any rate increases imposed since January of 2009, banks are reducing interest rates for some of their cardholders.  

This may not seem like the case since the Federal Reserve reported in increase in average interest rates from 13.57 percent in 2008 to 14.31 percent in 2009.   However, chief executive of Cardhub.com, Odysseas Papadimitriou said, "most consumers believe that it was the new credit card law that caused the higher rates, but it was completely because of the economy."  Based on his estimates, somewhere between 91 and 121 million credit cards had their interest rates increased due to the recession.  

It is still not apparent the number of cardholders who will see their interest rates reduced due to the new regulations.  Many cardholders may not have improved their spending and payment habits so therefore should not expect any reductions.   Additionally, the credit-reporting agency TransUnion suggested the number of individuals carrying credit cards decreased by eight million in 2010.  Even so, millions are expected to benefit from the changes.   

The nation's second largest credit card issuer, Bank of America Corp., expects a reduction in rates for approximately one million of its customers.  Other larger credit card companies like JPMorgan Chase, Citgroup, Captial One, Discover, and American Express refused to release any specific information in the projected number of cards that will be impacted.   

Whether or not the bank will decrease interest rates on a specific account may be influenced by the fact that regulations prohibit increasing rates in the near future without proper notification to the cardholder.  In addition, new rates cannot be applied to previous purchases and consumers will have the option to close the account after their previous balance has been paid off.   

Even with these circumstances, individuals who carry a credit card balance will see significant savings with their interest rates reduced even slightly.