The following provisions have recently taken effect.

Card issuers will be prohibited from raising rates on new accounts for 12 months.

Issuers can’t impose retroactive rate increases, meaning that rate hikes on outstanding balances generally will be prohibited. The exception to this is consumers who are 60 days or more late with their payments.

However, card issuers can still raise your rate on new purchases at any time, as long as they provide 45 days’ written notice.

People under age 21 will have to get an adult co-signer to get a credit card if they can’t show they have the means to pay off the debt on their own.

Card issuers also will be barred from offering freebies to college students on campus to get them to apply for a card.

Any amount you pay above the minimum payment will be applied to the balance with the highest interest rate.

Issuers must show you how long it would take you to pay off your card and the total cost if you just made minimum payments. (That’s assuming you don’t charge more on the card.)

“If you had no idea of how damaging minimum-payment syndrome is, you get it now,” said Todd Mark, vice president of education at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas.

One rotten thing some card issuers have done in response to the law is double the minimum payment for some cardholders from 2.5 percent of the total balance to 5 percent.

“It may be more difficult for these consumers to realize the benefit from this provision,” said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com.

Card issuers won’t be able to charge interest on balances from a prior billing cycle that have been paid, a practice known as “double-cycle billing.”

Due dates for card payments must be the same each month.

Credit card issuers will be prohibited from opening an account or increasing the credit limit on an existing account unless the issuer has considered whether the borrower has the ability to repay the debt.