The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday published a request for information from consumers related to their experiences using credit cards as part of a required review of the industry. The request covers a number of different areas related to how consumers use their credit cards, how they are treated by credit card issuers, and includes a couple of questions related to debt collections.
A copy of the request can be accessed by clicking here.
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 mandates that the CFPB conduct a review of the credit card industry every two years and submit that report to Congress. The objective of the review is to determine if new regulations are needed or if current regulations need to be altered or eliminated. The RFI covers a number of broad topics, such as:
- Terms of credit card agreements and the practices of credit card issuers
- Effectiveness of disclosure of terms, fees, and other expenses of credit card plans
- Adequacy of protections against unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to credit card plans
- Cost and availability of consumer credit cards
- Safety and soundness of credit card issuers
- Use of risk-based pricing for consumer credit cards
- Consumer credit card product innovation
Regarding the terms of credit card agreements, the CFPB is asking consumers to let it know if practices have changed related to collecting on delinquent or charged-off debt, whether the use of electronic communication — such as text messaging and email — used by creditors and debt buyers has grown or evolved, and if it has, in what ways.
