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Truth in Lending: 56(g) Continuing right to opt in or revoke opt-in.

1. Fees or charges for over-the-limit transactions incurred prior to revocation. Section 1026.56(g) provides that a consumer may revoke his or her prior consent at any time. If a consumer does so, this provision does not require the card issuer to waive or reverse any over-the-limit fees or charges assessed to the consumer’s account for transactions that occurred prior to the card issuer’s implementation of the consumer’s revocation request.

Truth in Lending: 56(h) Duration of opt-in.

1. Card issuer ability to stop paying over-the-limit transactions after consumer consent. A card issuer may cease paying over-the-limit transactions for consumers that have previously opted in at any time and for any reason. For example, a card issuer may stop paying over-the-limit transactions for a consumer to respond to changes in the credit risk presented by the consumer.

Truth in Lending: 56(j) Prohibited practices.

1. Periodic fees or charges. A card issuer may charge an over-the-limit fee or charge only if the consumer has exceeded the credit limit during the billing cycle. Thus, a card issuer may not impose any recurring or periodic fees for paying over-the-limit transactions (for example, a monthly “over-the-limit protection” service fee), even if the consumer has affirmatively consented to or opted in to the service, unless the consumer has in fact exceeded the credit limit during that cycle.

Truth in Lending: 57(a)(1) College student credit card.

1. Definition.952 The definition of college student credit card excludes home-equity lines of credit accessed by credit cards and overdraft lines of credit accessed by debit cards. A college student credit card includes a college affinity card within the meaning of TILA section 127(r)(1)(A). In addition, a card may fall within the scope of the definition regardless of the fact that it is not intentionally targeted at or marketed to college students.

Truth in Lending: 57(a)(5) College credit card agreement.

1. Definition.953 Section 1026.57(a)(5) defines “college credit card agreement” to include any business, marketing or promotional agreement between a card issuer and a college or university (or an affiliated organization, such as an alumni club or a foundation) if the agreement provides for the issuance of credit cards to full-time or part-time students.

Truth in Lending: 57(c) Prohibited inducements.

1. Tangible item clarified. A tangible item includes any physical item, such as a gift card, a t-shirt, or a magazine subscription, that a card issuer or creditor offers to induce a college student to apply for or open an open-end consumer credit plan offered by such card issuer or creditor. Tangible items do not include non-physical inducements such as discounts, rewards points, or promotional credit terms.

Truth in Lending: Amendment History

[75 Fed. Reg. 7848 (Feb. 22, 2010); 76 Fed. Reg. 79,772 (Dec. 22, 2011); 81 Fed. Reg. 84,369 (Nov. 22, 2016); 82 Fed. Reg. 18,975 (Apr. 25, 2017); 83 Fed. Reg. 6364 (Feb. 13, 2018)]

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(1) Agreement.

1. Inclusion of pricing information. For purposes of this section, a credit card agreement is deemed to include certain information, such as annual percentage rates and fees, even if the issuer does not otherwise include this information in the basic credit contract. This information is listed under the defined term “pricing information” in § 1026.58(b)(7).

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(2) Amends.

1. Substantive changes. A change to an agreement is substantive, and therefore is deemed an amendment of the agreement, if it alters the rights or obligations of the parties. Section 1026.58(b)(2) provides that any change in the pricing information, as defined in § 1026.58(b)(7), is deemed to be substantive. Examples of other changes that generally would be considered substantive include:

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(4) Card issuer.

1. Card issuer clarified. Section 1026.58(b)(4) provides that, for purposes of § 1026.58, card issuer or issuer means the entity to which a consumer is legally obligated, or would be legally obligated, under the terms of a credit card agreement. For example, Bank X and Bank Y work together to issue credit cards.

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(5) Offers.

1. Cards offered to limited groups. A card issuer is deemed to offer a credit card agreement to the public even if the issuer solicits, or accepts applications from, only a limited group of persons. For example, a card issuer may market affinity cards to students and alumni of a particular educational institution, or may solicit only high-net-worth individuals for a particular card; in these cases, the agreement would be considered to be offered to the public.

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(6) Open account.

1. Open account clarified. The definition of open account includes a credit card account under an open-end (not home-secured) consumer credit plan if either (i) the cardholder can obtain extensions of credit on the account; or (ii) there is an outstanding balance on the account that has not been charged off. Under this definition, an account that meets either of these criteria is considered to be open even if the account is inactive.

Truth in Lending: 58(b)(8) Private Label Credit Card Account and Private Label Credit Card Plan.

1. Private label credit card account. The term private label credit card account means a credit card account under an open-end (not home-secured) consumer credit plan with a credit card that can be used to make purchases only at a single merchant or an affiliated group of merchants. This term applies to any such credit card account, regardless of whether it is issued by the merchant or its affiliate or by an unaffiliated third party.

Truth in Lending: 58(c)(1) Quarterly Submissions.

1. Quarterly submission requirement. Section 1026.58(c)(1) requires card issuers to send quarterly submissions to the Bureau no later than the first business day on or after January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31 of each year. For example, a card issuer has already submitted three credit card agreements to the Bureau. On October 15, the card issuer stops offering agreement A. On November 20, the card issuer amends agreement B. On December 1, the issuer starts offering a new agreement D.

Truth in Lending: 58(c)(3) Amended Agreements.

1. No requirement to resubmit agreements not amended. Under § 1026.58(c)(3), if a credit card agreement has been submitted to the Bureau, the agreement has not been amended, and the card issuer continues to offer the agreement to the public, no additional submission regarding that agreement is required. For example, a credit card issuer begins offering an agreement in October and submits the agreement to the Bureau the following January 31, as required by § 1026.58(c)(1).

Truth in Lending: 58(c)(4) Withdrawal of Agreements.

1. Notice of withdrawal of agreement. Section 1026.58(c)(4) requires a card issuer to notify the Bureau if any agreement previously submitted to the Bureau by that issuer is no longer offered to the public by the first quarterly submission deadline after the last day of the calendar quarter in which the card issuer ceased to offer the agreement. For example, on January 5 a card issuer stops offering to the public an agreement it previously submitted to the Bureau.

Truth in Lending: 58(c)(5) De Minimis Exception.

1. Relationship to other exceptions. The de minimis exception is distinct from the private label credit card exception under § 1026.58(c)(6) and the product testing exception under § 1026.58(c)(7). The de minimis exception provides that a card issuer with fewer than 10,000 open credit card accounts is not required to submit any agreements to the Bureau, regardless of whether those agreements qualify for the private label credit card exception or the product testing exception.

Truth in Lending: 58(c)(8) Form and content of agreements submitted to the Bureau.

1. “As of” date clarified. Agreements submitted to the Bureau must contain the provisions of the agreement and pricing information in effect as of the last business day of the preceding calendar quarter. For example, on June 1, a card issuer decides to decrease the purchase APR associated with one of the agreements it offers to the public. The change in the APR will become effective on August 1.

Truth in Lending: 58(d) Posting of Agreements Offered to the Public.

1. Requirement applies only to agreements submitted to the Bureau. Card issuers are only required to post and maintain on their publicly available Web site the credit card agreements that the card issuer must submit to the Bureau under § 1026.58(c). If, for example, a card issuer is not required to submit any agreements to the Bureau because the card issuer qualifies for the de minimis exception under § 1026.58(c)(5), the card issuer is not required to post and maintain any agreements on its Web site under § 1026.58(d).

Truth in Lending: 58(e) Agreements for All Open Accounts.

1. Requirement applies to all open accounts. The requirement to provide access to credit card agreements under § 1026.58(e) applies to all open credit card accounts, regardless of whether such agreements are required to be submitted to the Bureau pursuant to § 1026.58(c) (or posted on the card issuer’s Web site pursuant to § 1026.58(d)).

Truth in Lending: 58(g) Temporary Suspension of Agreement Submission Requirement.

1. Suspended quarterly submission requirement.956 Pursuant to § 1026.58(g)(1), card issuers are not required to make quarterly submissions to the Bureau, as otherwise required by § 1026.58(c), for the submissions that would otherwise be due by the first business day on or after April 30, 2015; July 31, 2015; October 31, 2015; and January 31, 2016.