On January 24, 2023, the CFPB issued a request for information seeking public feedback on how the consumer credit market is functioning as part of a biennial review of the industry. The CFPB is seeking more and current information on various aspects of the consumer experience with credit cards as mandated by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act).
The CARD Act aims to establish fair and transparent practices related to the extension of credit in the credit card market and it requires the CFPB to conduct a review of the credit card industry every two years and report to Congress to help determine whether regulatory adjustments are needed. In its recent request for public input, the CFPB wants to learn more about people’s overall experiences with credit card products. In particular, the request is seeking information on:
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
Comments and inputs from the public will be accepted until April 24, 2023. In addition, the CFPB also issued market-monitoring orders to a diverse group of major and specialized credit card issuers to gather information on practices of major credit card issuers relating to, among other topics, applications and approvals, debt collection, and digital account servicing.
The CFPB’s press release can be found here.
The Request for Information can be found here.