Reps. Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney are going to hold a press conference tomorrow to request that Congress move up the implementation date for the rest of the Credit Card Act's provisions to December from February, according to a spokesman for Mr. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The move would stop credit-card issuers from raising rates and other fees before the legislation goes into effect. Parts of the legislation, which required banks to give customers more time to pay their bills, went into effect in August. Banks also were also required to give customers more advance warning of significant changes to the terms of their credit cards and give them a chance to opt out of the changes. However, the bulk of the changes weren't slated to go into effect until February.

"We're not happy with the credit card companies who have been jacking up their rates and doing other things to their customers in advance of the effective date," said Steve Adamske, communications director at the House Financial Services Committee.

The changes come after major card issuers have been pushing through a slew of recent interest-rate increases and fees. In recent months, for example, American Express Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Card Services and Bank of America Corp. have raised interest rates by several percentage points, converting customers' fixed rates to variable ones, and pushing through higher rates and fees for cash advances and late payments. Just this week, for example, Discover Financial Services , for example, recently started notifying cardholders that it will increase its balance-transfer fees to 5% from 3%.

Banks say the changes are being driven by the weak economy, which has resulted in higher losses and funding costs.

"Since the signing of my bill by the President on May 22, too many credit card companies have used the period to raise rates and fees in a way that would be banned come February," Ms. Maloney said in a statement prior to the release. "I believe they're taking advantage and using the time before the effective date badly. Changing the effective date to December 1 is both warranted and wise."

The moving up of the date might be a signal from lawmakers to issuers that they're not pleased with how the industry has reacted to the changes, says John Ulzheimer, president of education for Credit.com, a credit-card education Web site. "This is a slap on the wrist for card issuers who weren't complying with the spirit of the law."

The move also comes on the cusp of holiday shopping season, when many credit-card balances are racked up by consumers. "[The new rules] are a nice security blanket" for shoppers, Mr. Ulzheimer says. "They can shop around knowing that by the time those balances and statements land in the mail that things will be different."