I've started telling my readers and friends to get ready for a "triple whammy" that will change the way many Americans use their credit card accounts. We've all become accustomed to using balance transfer offers to bounce debt between credit card lenders in order to keep our interest rates as low as 0%. For instance, even a 3% transfer fee can save you money on a 0% interest balance transfer from a higher rate credit card.

However, recent changes in the credit card industry threaten to reduce the impact — and the attractiveness — of balance transfer offers. Lenders have already throttled credit lines, especially to small business owners, in an attempt to meet federal capital requirements. In February 2010, new credit regulations require lenders to apply customer payments to the portions of their accounts with the highest interest rates.

That means more banks could wind up carrying "no interest" deals longer, thus reducing their revenue related to interest charges. While this may sound like good news for consumers, I'm afraid there will be unintended negative consequences. In fact, I predict three trends to emerge over the next several months:

Higher Fees Coming to Balance Transfer Offers

To recoup some of the lost revenue from reduced interest rates, some banks will raise the percentage fees charged at the initiation of a balance transfer. In fact, a handful of credit card issuers have already started to nudge those fees north for new transfer offers, while eliminating some fee limits. Earlier this year, Bank of America bumped its balance transfer fee to 4%. Meanwhile, Discover, HSBC and Chase have all test marketed special offers with 5% fees.

Paying 5% up front may still sound better than paying 20% or higher on a furniture or electronics financing offer, but higher fees limit the benefits and attractiveness of balance transfer offers. I equate these fees to a front-end load on a mutual fund. If your issuer hasn't increased its transfer fee recently, don't be surprised if you receive notice of a fee hike in the months to come.

Shorter Introductory Periods Force Faster Credit Card Repayments

Typical balance transfer promotions have given customers as long as a year or more to pay without triggering finance charges. Account managers eager to earn interest on those balances have started slashing repayment periods, hoping to trigger finance charges that apply for the duration of a balance's promotional period. During a conference call earlier in the year, the CEO of Discover Financial told analysts that he expected his company to pull back "dramatically" on the length of balance transfer promotional offers. Don't be surprised when other card issuers follow suit.

Bottom line: My prediction is that you will see fewer 12 month offers and more 3–6 month offers. From an interest savings standpoint, your interest savings are cut by 50% on a 6-month offer (when compared with a 12-month offer).

Fewer Zero Percent Balance Transfer Offers

Credit card promotions managers still believe that the balance transfer is one of the most effective tools for luring customers from competing products. To balance the benefits of their marketing tactics with the need to make a profit, more lenders are replacing zero percent balance transfers with low-rate offers ranging from 1.99% to 4.99%.

Consumers facing larger interest rates on previous promotions may have little choice but to accept a small finance charge in the absence of zero percent offers. While I don't think 0% transfer offers will go away anytime soon, I do believe that 0% offers for 12 months are going to soon be on the "endangered card offers" list.

All three of these coming changes reflect the credit card industry's own re-balancing of its debt portfolios. Instead of encouraging customers to "surf" debt from card to card, lenders will require more of us to pay down our credit card balances more quickly.

While these changes might come as a shock to the system for some consumers, there is a positive side. The long term benefits of paying off credit cards can help put more cash into the American economy by spending more on goods and services and less on finance charges. Not to mention how much this will help our credit scores. Even using the cash for savings wouldn't be a bad idea.