As recently posted on creditcards.com, with the change in credit card regulations comes the greedy credit card banks looking to replace lost income. Some of these aren’t exactly new but worth mentioning nonetheless. In summary:

• Reward redemption fees: This borders on bait-and-switch, offering a “reward” and then charging to redeem it. Supposedly for administrative expenses, this is typically no more than $50, and is often waived if you register online.

• Foreign transaction fees: You need not actually travel to incur this, just involve a foreign bank somehow, and poof! Instant fee. This is usually up to 3% of transaction amount. If you’re travelling abroad, you can possibly get a better deal by using traveler’s checks denominated in the destination country’s currency. (note: not a traveler’s check card, which is a prepaid debit card and usually much more expensive)

• Reward recovery fee: Charged to reinstate reward points withdrawn due to default (not paying on time). Highly variable; American Express charges $29, some issuers don’t charge it at all even if the terms say they reserve the right to.

• Activity fee: Ironically, replaces the former inactivity fee limited by the Credit CARD Act to cards unused for over a year. Now, card issuers charge $50 to $100 and rebate it if you charge over a certain amount per year. (Probably not what the legislators that wrote the Credit CARD Act had in mind, either.)

• Payment protection fees: This is a completely optional insurance plan that costs around .9% of your balance (90 cents per $100). It’s not called insurance, of course, but that’s what it is. Best avoided if you carry a large balance; the money can be put aside into a savings account instead where it’s earning interest for you. This can be a significant amount: for a $5,000 balance, about $45 per month. Over a year that’s $540, which should easily cover six months of minimum payments. Another way to look at it: that .9% per month is comparable to an additional 10.8% APR. There’s an easy way around this one: don’t sign up for it.

• Paper statement fees: Not surprisingly in our increasingly electronic era, banks now charge to mail out hard copy. At least some banks are; I’d expect this to become more common in the coming years but it’s not terribly common right now. As long as the fee is reasonable (about $1-2 per month) it’s no huge cause for concern if you actually need a paper statement, but just say no to unmitigated greed such as Bank of America’s $9 per month paper statement fee.

Moral of the story: read the terms and conditions of your cards and accounts carefully and keep track of changes to them. If you find something that’s outrageous, take it up with your bank/card issuer, and start looking for alternatives. Most changes in terms and conditions will not affect you if you quit using your card before they take effect and you inform the issuer you wish to close your account.