Not all things coming out of Washington are bad these days. This is long overdue.

“Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Senate Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement on a bill providing credit cardholders with more leverage against “abusive practices” by companies such as double-cycle billing. The House already passed its version of the legislation, which President Barack Obama wants to sign into law by Memorial Day.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican in the panel, announced on Monday that they had drafted a compromise bill. The Senate began debate on the measure the same day, and plans to hold a final vote on it this week.

“While I expect some battles in the coming days from credit card companies and their allies in an effort to diminish these strict new rules, I stand ready to fight against any attempt to weaken the strong consumer protections in this bill,” Dodd said in a statement.

The bill requires that payments from cardholders be applied first to the balance with the highest interest rate. It prohibits credit card companies from increasing rates on a cardholder in the first year after the account is opened. Card issuers thereafter are required to give a 45-day notice before increasing rates.

Companies must also mail statements at least 21 days before the bill is due, and must not charge interest on paid-off balances from the previous billing cycle, also known as double-cycle billing.”

Gone too will be Universal Default where CC companies hike your rate because you’re late on some other unrelated bill, or based on shopping practices or some other arbritary reason.

As you know I’ve written about this a few times more recently with Capital One who received more than 300 billion in bailout money and then jacked interest rates on nearly 70 percent of it’s card users. I went from 8 percent to nearly 19, although I opted out to pay off at the lower rate.

We all understand that they are in business to make money and we all enter into these agreements with these sharks willingly. But when they receive my tax dollars only to turn around to stick it to me again, well.

It’s on.

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