CFPB Wants Information About Consumer Credit Cards

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is asking consumers and others about their experiences with credit cards.

The information is to be used in a review of the industry that the CFPB does every other year, according to a Tuesday (Jan. 24) press release.

“The CFPB undertakes a biennial review of the consumer credit card market to ensure guidelines and guardrails to protect consumers are working as intended,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the release.

The report that is to include this feedback is mandated by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act) and aims to help determine if regulatory adjustments are needed, according to the press release.

Examples of things the CFPB would like to hear about are terms of credit card agreements, practices of credit card issuers, effectiveness of disclosures and the adequacy of consumer protections. Other examples include credit cards’ cost, availability and product innovation.

The review also collects information from major credit card issuers about their business practices, the release said.

“This request for information is a meaningful data point that will inform our decision-making on any potential changes, and the CFPB invites consumers, credit card issuers, industry analysts, consumer groups and the general public to submit information and comments relevant to the topic,” Chopra said.

The public will have until April 24 to submit comments, and the report is to be published later this year.

In a different report published by the CFPB in March 2022, the regulator focused on credit card late fees, reporting that these fees have been in decline for the past few years and that consumers with lower credit scores incurred more fees than those with better scores.

The report showed that financial institutions are charging late fees, on average, below the limits established in the law, and that the trend in the industry is to reduce or eliminate those fees.

So far, the CFPB has had a busy 2023, and the pace won’t slow as the year goes on.

As PYMNTS reported Jan. 20, small business lending, nonbank oversight, account fees and more are in the CFPB’s crosshairs.