CFPB releases model credit card agreement

The fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today released a model credit card agreement that it hopes issuers will adopt.

The two-page document uses straightforward language, which the CFPB says should help both consumers and issuers.

The American Bankers Association released a short statement in response today, calling it a positive initiative but one that could be improved.

"For more than 20 years, the banking industry has strongly supported efforts to provide consumers with a short, easy-to-understand summary of their credit card agreement," chief counsel Kenneth Clayton said in the statement. "The model released by the Bureau is a good first step, but could be made even shorter, as well as less susceptible to costly lawsuits and the higher consumer prices that come from them."