Protections for users of credit cards and overdraft services

Protections for users of credit cards and overdraft services. Before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Committee of Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Credit Card Applications and Solicitations

The final rule includes several changes to the content and terminology of the tabular disclosure of key costs and terms currently provided with credit card applications and solicitations, commonly known as the "Schumer box." These changes were based largely on information from our consumer testing about what information consumers do and do not notice or find important when shopping for credit. The final rules mandate that certain terminology be used in the table in order to enhance consumer understanding, such as by requiring that issuers use the term "penalty rate" to describe the increased rate that may apply if a consumer engages in behavior such as paying late. In order to target the tabular disclosure to those terms that are most useful to consumers, the final rule does not permit a creditor to include in the table information that testing revealed consumers do not use in comparing different credit card offers, for example detailed information about the calculation of variable rates.