It took years of complaining, two years of legislating, and one year of waiting, but last month, a host of new rules kicked in designed to protect credit card consumers.

Now comes word that many of the pieces of credit plastic in your wallet may not be covered by the new consumer protections after all.  Read on to find out why some credit cards in your wallet are safer than others.

Even before the last round of provisions from the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act took effect, banks were engaged in widespread loophole hunting, trying to invent new fees while billions in penalty charge revenue had been eliminated by an act of Congress.  But it turns out a very large loophole could make that relatively easy.

So-called "professional" cards are not covered by new consumer protections. That means they can come with all the old booby traps -- late fees of $35 or more, less than 20 days to pay the bill before being hit with those late fees, random interest rate charges without warning, retroactive interest rate charges, and so on. Perhaps you think that won't impact you -- "professional" credit cards might sound like plastic that CEOs use to expense private jet trips.   

You're wrong. Professional cards include what are sometimes called "corporate cards" -- the plastic that most companies insist employees use for work expenses.  Millions of such cards are in circulation. Citigroup, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and JP Morgan Chase together have issued 4 million corporate cards, for example, according to the Nilson Report. American Express, which would not reveal the number of corporate card accounts it holds, is the largest issuer, according to Nilson. Amex's corporate cards are not subject to CARD Act rules, according to the company.

So, despite the CARD Act's cap of $29 late fees, Amex's corporate card users are liable for $39 fees. Individual employees are generally responsible for late fees, which can occur while employees are waiting for expenses to be processed.

A lot of money is at stake.  In 2008, BusinessWeek reported that every month, 4.8 percent of employee payments are delinquent.

Perhaps you don't have much sympathy for people using corporate cards to pay for travel and entertainment expenses, if you don't have one. Well, credit card companies are after you next. Apparently, they want everyone to feel like they have a swanky corporate card, because they are slinging special "professional" card applications at millions of Americans.

Synovate, which tracks credit card solicitation mail, revealed recently that 47 million professional card applications were sent out in the first quarter of this year -- representing a 250 percent increase in those kinds of offers.  In one case, the business card application was simplified to include a single check box with the question, "I am a business professional with business expenses."

'Bruising step backwards'
Banks are clearly pushing CARD-Act-immune plastic because the accounts are more valuable, but that's not fair, says Bill Hardekopf, publisher of Lowcards.com. He says the terms and conditions of the professional cards are a "bruising step backwards" for consumers who should be enjoying the new consumer protections.

"It seems some banks do want to get around the law rather than just comply with the law," said Josh Frank, who's studied the issue at the Center for Responsible Lending, an advocacy group.  "Why else would they be randomly sending out solicitations to people for small business cards?"

The ability to skirt CARD Act provisions is no small advantage, he said.

"Raising rates on people's balances retroactively, that's pretty powerful, worth a lot of money," he said.

Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent a letter to the Federal Reserve crying foul about this latest development, and asked the Fed to step in and stop the faux business card solicitations.

"Credit card companies seem to be purposely hawking corporate cards to consumers who don't own a business and may even be retired. This is more than deceptive marketing; it is a dirty trick meant to get around the new credit card law," he said in a statement. "We need to put an immediate stop to this scheme." Schumer suggested requiring an added step to prove the applicant is a small business owner to keep regular consumers from falling for the business card trap.

But that step would still leave millions of corporate expense card holders with plastic in their wallets that are still exempt from the CARD Act.

It should make you wonder: Why are there two sets of rules, one for consumers and another for small business owners?

Those who've ever tried to run a small business know that such a dual-rule system isn't unusual.  Small businesses are often abandoned by Congress when it passes laws aimed at protecting consumers.  Small retailers, for example, bear the brunt of much credit card fraud. Unknown to many consumers, who enjoy superb liability protection from credit card fraud, businesses which accept credit cards are often on the hook when criminals use stolen cards at their website or when ordering on the phone.

"If something is wrong, it should be wrong for everybody," says Hardekopf. "It doesn't make a lot of sense that small business cards aren't protected by the same set of rules."

And by extending the new protections to small businesses, it turns out, Congress would be protecting all of us.  Time to get back to work, Congress.