he U.S. Crackdown on Shady Credit Card Practices Actually Worked

By Beth Braverman
December 3, 2015

Consumers saved billions of dollars in credit card fees over four years because of reforms implemented after the financial crisis, according to a new government report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study found that consumers would have paid $16 billion in additional fees from 2011 through 2014 if the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 hadn’t been enacted.

Designed to make credit card practices fairer and more transparent, the CARD act capped fees or conditioned how they were assessed; set rules on interest-rate increases; and limited marketing to young adults, among other changes. It went into effect in 2010.

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The CFPB report cites additional practices of concern that the act did not address. Those include deferred interest, high rates on subprime credit cards, rewards programs that aren’t fully transparent, and confusing credit card agreements.