10 most readable credit card agreements

CreditCards.com analysis of major card issuers contracts finds best, worst

By CreditCards.com

Unlike the 10 most unreadable credit card agreements, these 10 are a breeze to read.

Experts in readability say that contracts should require, at most, a ninth-grade reading level if they are to be widely understood. These credit card agreements easily met that test, as measured by readability programs in a CreditCards.com analysis of more than 1,200 credit card contracts in a new Federal Reserve database. The agreements were analyzed using the "FOG Index" -- a mathematical formula that determines how many years of education readers need in order to understand the content.

10 MOST READABLE CREDIT CARD AGREEMENTS
Rank	Contract issuer	Reading level (years)	Number of words
1.	University of Illinois Employees Credit Union	6	280
2.	ESL Federal Credit Union	6.4	490
3.	Affinity Federal Credit Union	6.5	395
4.	MidFlorida Credit Union	6.5	309
5.	Associated Credit Union	6.6	421
6.	OnPoint Community Credit Union	6.6	528
7.	S.C. State Credit Union	6.7	424
8.	State Department Federal Credit Union	6.8	615
9.	University of Michigan Credit Union	6.8	447
10.	Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union	6.9	441
Source: CreditCards.com analysis of the credit card agreements contained in a database maintained by the Federal Reserve. Under the Credit CARD Act of 2009, all U.S. credit card issuers with more than 10,000 credit card accounts must submit their agreements to the Fed every three months.

Published: July 22, 2010

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