Got time? Fed has 1,000 credit card agreements for you

Monday, May 31, 2010

The Federal Reserve has introduced an online database listing the terms and conditions of more than 1,000 card agreements from 300 credit card issuers. Under the credit card reform law known as the CARD Act, card issuers are required to submit cardholder agreements in order to help consumers find a card that best suits their needs.

Cardholder agreements are legalistic documents that form the basis of the contract between cardholders and issuers. The information will be useful to researchers in tracking how well companies are following the new rules set by the CARD Act.

Consumer Action believes it is vital to the public interest to have this information be submitted the Fed and posted where the public can access it. "It may be 'too much information' for many people," said Linda Sherry, a Consumer Action spokesperson, "but after all the years Consumer Action has spent digging for this information for our annual Credit Card Surveys, we are grateful to have it compiled in one place for easy access."

Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI) was the author of the successful amendment to the CARD Act that required card issuers to post written agreements on their websites and for the Fed to compile the documents in an online database.

Click here to visit the Federal Reserve card agreement database.