The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week that is has published a request for information in the Federal Register to ask about the consumer credit card market. It plans to publish a public report to Congress on the state of the consumer credit card market.
With today’s Request for Information, the CFPB is seeking to gather more information on how the credit card market is functioning and the continuing effects of the CARD Act on consumers. Some of the specific areas that the Bureau is requesting information on include:
- The terms of credit card agreements and practices of credit card issuers: The Bureau wants to know how the terms and conditions of credit card agreements may have changed since it conducted its review of the credit card market two years ago. The Bureau is looking to see how card issuers may have changed their pricing, marketing, underwriting, or other practices and whether those changes have benefited or harmed consumers.
As with any request for public comment, the industry should respond and make sure that its voice is heard. Efforts to regulate the financial services market are often undertaken with the best of intensions, but an incomplete understanding of the industry often makes regulators think that regulations are feasible when in fact they would be destructive. As always, the industry should include a strong focus on consumer protection in their comments.
Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service for Mercator Advisory Group
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