Rules for credit card periodic statement disclosures

Credit card reform: The fine print of proposed changes to Regulation Z

By Connie Prater

With their proposed changes to periodic statement disclosure rules, federal regulators seek to reduce confusion by mandating uniform terminology and by grouping similar transactions on your monthly or periodic statement.

45 days' notice Fixed rates APR disclosures Fee disclosures Account opening disclosures Periodic statement disclosures Changes in credit card terms Minimum payments Subprime credit cards

Under the board's proposal for periodic statements, part of its proposal to make sweeping changes to Regulation Z, a vague term such as "assessment" would have to be called a "fee," and fall under the heading "fees," separated from sections labeled "Payments and Other Credits," "Purchases," "Cash Advances," "Balance Transfers" and "Interest Charged."  In addition, the statement provides total fees and total interest charged year-to-date.

Many banks, however, said the proposed changes left them little room for flexibility in design of their monthly statements. "Citi is concerned about the excessive rigidity of the Board's proposed format requirements for the periodic statement ... " Read more (Page 10)

"Bank of America recently redesigned its periodic statement. That undertaking cost several million dollars and took well over two years ... ." Read more (Page 18)

The American Bankers Association and America's Community Bankers believe "different types of customers prefer different formats. Lenders should be permitted to respond to customers' format preference and continue to use periodic statement formats as a competitive tool." Read more (Page 2)

HSBC bank notes that the proposed changes do not address inclusion of a new feature that many consumers seek out each month on their statements: the reward points and cash back bonus earned to date. " ... (U)nder the Proposed Rule, that information likely would be relegated to the bottom of the a second page ... " Read more (Page 5)

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Published: December 26, 2007

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