For anyone who's struggled to understand the complex, ever-changing rules of their credit-card issuer — or found their interest rates or fees suddenly jacked up for no apparent reason — Congress is promising some relief. It's about time.

This week, with President Obama's urging, Congress is moving to pass legislation to force credit card companies to treat their customers more fairly.

The most fundamental improvement to the current lax rules is basic transparency: Companies would have to notify customers in advance of rate increases or changes in contract terms.

Other reforms include restrictions that would make it more difficult for those under 21 — a prime target for easy-credit come-ons — to get credit cards; restricting raising rates retroactively unless a customer is egregiously late in payments; and requiring overpayments to be applied to the highest, not the lowest, rate.

Credit-card companies complain that restricting their ability to freely change rates and fees as they see fit will hurt their business, forcing them to charge higher rates, limiting the availability of credit.

That may be, but in these economic times, it makes sense for consumers to not get in over their heads financially — a problem that murky, overly complex credit card contracts tend to exacerbate.

Of course, a consumer's best defense against the credit-card trap lies with his or her own good judgment: Don't overspend, pay off those balances on time and in full, do your research through reputable sources like creditcards.com, and read your bill carefully. As always, let the buyer beware.