Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender by assets, nearly doubled a goodwill impairment for its credit card unit to $20.3 billion to reflect increased defaults and an almost 2-year-old change in credit-card lending rules, Bloomberg reported.

Bank of America restated federal regulatory filings to record the write-down to its FIA Card Services unit in 2009’s first half, the company said Monday. The non-cash charge, which replaced a $10.4 billion impairment booked on the unit last year, doesn’t affect “the financial results, safety and soundness or the capital position” of the Charlotte, N.C.-based parent company, said Robert Stickler, a spokesman.

The write-down shows that the credit-card unit’s prospects may have deteriorated more than initially disclosed after federal legislation known as the Card Act was passed in May 2009 to curb fees and interest-rate increases.
According to a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report released this morning, late fees charged by credit card issuers declined to $427 million in November 2010, less than half the $901 million total for January 2010, the last month before the Card Act’s rules took effect. The average late fee declined to $23 from $35 over the same period, according to the study.
Before the new rules, 15 percent of existing credit card accounts were re-priced with a new interest rate each year; that has fallen to 2 percent, according to the report. Over-limit fees — charged when customers exceed credit limits — have “virtually disappeared,” the study found.
In November, Bank of America said the Card Act’s provisions would cut the company’s annual revenues by $1 billion, undermining efforts by CEO Brian Moynihan to improve returns for investors. The company said Monday that the act and “deteriorating credit quality” caused the revision.

The restatement, covering the eight quarters of 2009 and 2010, was made in reports filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.