75410 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 245 / Thursday, December 20, 2012 / Notices 

1See 15 U.S.C. 1616(a). 

2See 15 U.S.C. 1616(b). 

3The CARD Act’s provisions took effect in three 

stages: August 2009, February 2010, and October 

2011. 

4Text of H.R. 627 (111th), available at 

www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr627/text. 

5The Federal Reserve Board promulgated several 

substantive rules shortly before passage of the 

CARD Act, but they had not taken effect before the 

Act was signed into law. 

application transparency. The January 

17, 2013; January 31, 2013; February 21, 

2013; March 14, 2013; and April 4, 

2013, meetings will build on 

stakeholders’ previous work. More 

information about stakeholders’ work is 

available at: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ 

other-publication/2012/privacymultistakeholder-process-mobileapplication-transparency. 

Time and Date: NTIA will convene 

meetings of the privacy 

multistakeholder process on January 17, 

2013; January 31, 2013; February 21, 

2013; March 14, 2013; and April 4, 

2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., 

Eastern Time. The meeting times are 

subject to change. Please refer to NTIA’s 

Web site, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ 

other-publication/2012/privacymultistakeholder-process-mobileapplication-transparency, for the most 

current information. 

Place: The meetings will be held in 

the Boardroom at the American Institute 

of Architects, 1735 New York Avenue 

NW., Washington, DC 20006. The 

location of the meetings is subject to 

change. Please refer to NTIA’s Web site, 

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otherpublication/2012/privacymultistakeholder-process-mobileapplication-transparency, for the most 

current information. 

Other Information: The meetings are 

open to the public and the press. The 

meetings are physically accessible to 

people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to John 

Verdi at (202) 482–8238 or 

jverdi@ntia.doc.gov at least seven (7) 

business days prior to each meeting. 

The meetings will also be webcast. 

Requests for real-time captioning of the 

webcast or other auxiliary aids should 

be directed to John Verdi at (202) 482– 

8238 or jverdi@ntia.doc.gov at least 

seven (7) business days prior to each 

meeting. There will be an opportunity 

for stakeholders viewing the webcast to 

participate remotely in the meetings 

through a moderated conference bridge, 

including polling functionality. Access 

details for the meetings are subject to 

change. Please refer to NTIA’s Web site, 

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otherpublication/2012/privacymultistakeholder-process-mobileapplication-transparency, for the most 

current information. 

Dated: December 17, 2012. 

Kathy Smith, 

Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30684 Filed 12–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–60–P 

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 

PROTECTION 

[Docket No. CFPB–2012–0048] 

Request for Information Regarding 

Credit Card Market 

AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

information. 

SUMMARY: Section 502(a) of the Credit 

Card Accountability Responsibility and 

Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act or 

Act) requires the Bureau of Consumer 

Financial Protection (Bureau) to 

conduct a review (Review) of the 

consumer credit card market, within the 

limits of its existing resources available 

for reporting purposes. In connection 

with conducting that Review, and in 

accordance with Section 502(b) of the 

CARD Act, the Bureau is soliciting 

information from the public about a 

number of aspects of the consumer 

credit card market, which are described 

further below. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before February 19, 2013 to be 

assured of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit responsive 

information and other comments, 

identified by Docket No. CFPB–2012– 

0048, by any of the following methods: 

• Electronic: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: 

Monica Jackson, Office of the Executive 

Secretary, Consumer Financial 

Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street NW., 

Washington, DC 20552. 

Instructions: The Bureau encourages 

the early submission of information and 

other comments. All submissions must 

include the agency name and docket 

number. In general, all submissions 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov. In 

addition, submissions will be available 

for public inspection and copying at 

1700 G Street NW., Washington, DC 

20552, on official business days 

between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

Eastern Time. You can make an 

appointment to inspect the documents 

by telephoning (202) 435–7275. 

All submissions, including 

attachments and other supporting 

materials, will become part of the public 

record and subject to public disclosure. 

Sensitive personal information, such as 

account numbers or social security 

numbers, should not be included. 

Submissions will not be edited to 

remove any identifying or contact 

information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wei 

Zhang, Division of Research, Markets 

and Regulations, Consumer Financial 

Protection Bureau, at (202) 435–7700, or 

wei.zhang@cfpb.gov. 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 1616(a), (b). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

502(a) of the CARD Act 1 requires the 

Bureau to conduct a review of the 

consumer credit card market. To inform 

that review, Section 502(b) 2 instructs 

the Bureau to seek public comment. 

Accordingly, the Bureau hereby invites 

members of the public, including 

consumers, credit card issuers, industry 

analysts, consumer advocates, and other 

interested persons to submit 

information and other comments 

relevant to the issued expressly 

identified in Section 2 below, as well as 

any information they believe is relevant 

to assessing the impact of the CARD Act 

on the consumer credit card market. 

1. Background: The CARD Act 

The CARD Act was signed into law in 

May 2009.3 Passage of the Act was 

expressly intended to ‘‘establish fair and 

transparent practices related to the 

extension of credit’’ in the credit card 

market.4 To achieve these agreed-upon 

purposes, the Act changed the 

requirements applicable to credit card 

pricing in a number of significant 

respects. Prior to the CARD Act, the 

applicable provisions of the Truth in 

Lending Act (TILA) and its 

implementing regulation (Regulation Z) 

focused principally on how companies 

needed to disclose product pricing 

terms to consumers, and otherwise 

placed few substantive limits on 

industry practice.5 After the CARD Act, 

however, TILA and Regulation Z also 

imposed direct limits on a number of 

pricing practices that Congress deemed 

unfair or unclear to consumers. The 

following is a high-level summary of 

CARD Act changes. Further information 

about the CARD Act is available on the 

Bureau’s Web site at 

www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards. 

(a) Interest Rate Increases 

The Act limits the circumstances 

under which credit card issuers can 

increase interest rates on existing and 

new balances. For new balances, the 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with 
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 245 / Thursday, December 20, 2012 / Notices 75411 

6CARD Act § 101; see also 12 CFR 1026.9(c) and 

55. 

7CARD Act § 102(b); see also 12 CFR 1026.52(b). 

8CARD Act § 102(a); see also 12 CFR 1026.56. 

9CARD Act § 106; see also 12 CFR 

1026.5(b)(2)(ii), 10, 7(b)(11)(A). The Act also barred 

so-called ‘‘double-cycle billing,’’ a practice that 

enabled an issuer to charge interest on purchases 

for a billing cycle prior to the cycle for which the 

consumer paid late. CARD Act § 102(a); see 12 CFR 

1026.54. 

10CARD Act § 104; see also 12 CFR 1026.53. 

11 12 CFR 1026.7(b). 

12CARD Act § 109; see also 12 CFR 1026.51(a). 

13CARD Act §§ 301, 303, 304; see also 12 CFR 

1026.51(b), 57. 

card issuer must give the consumer 45 

days written notice of a rate increase, 

and most increases are barred during the 

first year after the account is opened. 

For existing balances, the card issuer 

generally cannot increase rates unless 

the consumer has missed two 

consecutive monthly payments and the 

requisite written notice has been 

provided.6

(b) Penalty Fee Restrictions 

Penalty fees, such as late fees or 

overlimit fees, must now be ‘‘reasonable 

and proportional’’ to the relevant 

violation of account terms. The 

implementing rules establish a safe 

harbor benchmark for reasonable and 

proportional late fees of $25 for a first 

late payment, and $35 for a second 

violation within the next six months.7

(c) Overlimit Fee Opt-In 

There are additional restrictions on 

the overlimit fees assessed when a 

consumer exceeds his or her assigned 

credit line. Following the Act, issuers 

may only charge such fees if the 

consumer expressly opts in to permit 

overlimit transactions.8

(d) Payment Timing 

Payments must now be due on the 

same day of each month. In addition, 

the Act and implementing regulations 

contain a set of rules as to when 

payments must be treated as timely. 

There are also rules about how much 

notice cardholders must receive before a 

bill is due.9

(e) Payment Allocation 

Subject to certain exceptions, when a 

consumer makes a payment on the 

account, issuers are now required to 

allocate that payment first to balances 

that are subject to higher interest rates.10

(f) Monthly Statements 

Monthly statements must describe 

how long it would take the consumer— 

and how much it would cost—to pay 

the full balance on the card by paying 

only the required minimum monthly 

payment. For comparison, the statement 

must also show how much it would cost 

the consumer each month to pay off his 

or her current balance in three years. 

Regulations issued by the Federal 

Reserve Board and inherited by the 

Bureau, which took effect along with the 

CARD Act implementing rules, require 

each monthly statement to include the 

total amount of interest charged year to 

date, and a similar disclosure relating to 

the total amount of fees.11

(g) Ability to Repay 

Card issuers cannot provide or 

increase a credit line on a card until 

they have taken reasonable steps to 

consider the ability of the consumer to 

make payments on the amount of that 

line.12

(h) Student Cardholders 

The Act imposed new restrictions 

related to on-campus marketing of credit 

cards. In addition, any credit card 

applicant under 21 years of age must 

demonstrate his or her ability to make 

payments on the account.13

2. Issues on Which the Bureau Seeks 

Public Comment for Its Review 

In connection with its pending 

Review, the Bureau seeks information 

from members of the public about how 

the credit card market is functioning 

following the implementation of the 

CARD Act. Thus, the Bureau seeks 

comments about any of the subjects 

addressed in (a) through (g) below, 

which are identified in Section 502(a) of 

the CARD Act. In addition, the Bureau 

wants to be alerted to and understand 

the information that consumers, credit 

card issuers, consumer groups, and 

others believe is most relevant to 

assessing the impact of the Act on the 

consumer credit card market, so this list 

of subjects should not be viewed as 

exhaustive. 

Please feel free to comment generally 

and/or respond to any or all of the 

questions below but please be sure to 

indicate in your comments on which 

topic areas or questions you are 

commenting: 

(a) The Terms of Credit Card 

Agreements and the Practices of Credit 

Card Issuers 

How have the substantive terms and 

conditions of credit card agreements 

changed following the CARD Act? How 

have issuers changed their pricing, 

marketing, underwriting or other 

practices? What changes have benefited 

consumers? Are there changes that have 

harmed consumers? If there are such 

harms, how have they been caused, and 

how could they be mitigated, and at 

what cost? 

(b) The Effectiveness of Disclosure of 

Terms, Fees, and Other Expenses of 

Credit Card Plans 

How effective are post-CARD Act 

disclosures of rates, fees, and other cost 

terms of credit card accounts? Do 

consumers better understand the true 

cost of credit card use in light of the 

CARD Act? To what extent and in what 

ways do consumers use the new 

information that is now available to 

them about credit card costs? What 

further improvements in disclosure 

would benefit consumer cardholders at 

this point, and what costs would be 

incurred in providing such disclosures? 

(c) The Adequacy of Protections Against 

Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices 

Relating to Credit Card Plans 

Do unfair or deceptive acts and 

practices still exist in the credit card 

market, and if so, in what form and with 

what frequency and effect? How might 

those acts and practices be prevented 

and at what cost? Have issuers 

circumvented, or tried to circumvent, 

any CARD Act protections against unfair 

or deceptive acts or practices? 

(d) Whether implementation of the 

CARD Act has affected the cost and 

availability of credit, particularly with 

respect to non-prime borrowers? 

Controlling for risk, has the upfront 

interest rate or the overall, all-in cost of 

credit changed as a result of the CARD 

Act? Are there particular segments of 

the credit card market for which the Act 

has impacted the cost or access to 

credit? Has the CARD Act had any nonprice impacts on access to credit, 

particularly for consumers who do not 

have prime credit scores? 

(e) Has the CARD Act impacted the 

safety and soundness of any credit card 

issuers? 

Has the Act impacted the quality of 

issuer assets or issuers’ return on 

equity? Are there ways to mitigate any 

adverse consequences and, if so, at what 

cost to consumer protections? 

(f) Has the CARD Act affected the use 

of risk-based pricing? 

To what extent are card issuers still 

engaged in risk-based pricing? What 

practices have issuers adopted in the 

wake of rules that restrict account 

repricing, and how have these practices 

affected consumers? 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with 
75412 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 245 / Thursday, December 20, 2012 / Notices 

(g) Has implementation of the CARD Act 

had any effect on credit card product 

innovation? 

To what extent and in what ways has 

the Act spurred or hampered product 

innovation in the credit card market? If 

the Act has impacted innovation, what 

have been the follow-on impacts on 

consumers and other market 

participants? 

Dated: December 14, 2012. 

Garry Reeder, 

Chief of Staff, Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30609 Filed 12–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–AM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket No. DOD–2012–OS–0016] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

ACTION: Notice. 

The Department of Defense has 

submitted to OMB for clearance, the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

DATES: Consideration will be given to all 

comments received by January 22, 2013. 

Title and OMB Number: Joint 

Personnel Adjudication System; OMB 

Control Number 0704–TBD. 

Type of Request: New. 

Number of Respondents: 22,225. 

Responses per Respondent: 95. 

Annual Responses: 2,111,375. 

Average Burden per Response: 20 

minutes. 

Annual Burden Hours: 703,792 hours. 

Needs and Uses: JPAS requires 

personal data collection to facilitate the 

initiation, investigation and 

adjudication of information relevant to 

DoD security clearances and 

employment suitability determinations 

for active duty military, civilian 

employees and contractors requiring 

such credentials. As a Personnel 

Security System it is the authoritative 

source for clearance information 

resulting in accesses determinations to 

sensitive/classified information and 

facilities. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain a benefit. 

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Jasmeet 

Seehra. 

Written comments and 

recommendations on the proposed 

information collection should be sent to 

Ms. Seehra at the Office of Management 

and Budget, Desk Officer for DoD, Room 

10236, New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503. 

You may also submit comments, 

identified by docket number and title, 

by the following method: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name, docket 

number and title for this Federal 

Register document. The general policy 

for comments and other submissions 

from members of the public is to make 

these submissions available for public 

viewing on the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov as they are 

received without change, including any 

personal identifiers or contact 

information. 

DOD Clearance Officer: Ms. Patricia 

Toppings. 

Written requests for copies of the 

information collection proposal should 

be sent to Ms. Toppings at WHS/ESD 

Information Management Division, 4800 

Mark Center Drive, East Tower, Suite 

02G09, Alexandria, VA 22350–3100. 

Dated: November 21, 2012. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30662 Filed 12–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket No. DOD–2010–OS–0111] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

ACTION: Notice. 

The Department of Defense has 

submitted to OMB for clearance, the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

DATES: Consideration will be given to all 

comments received by January 22, 2013. 

Title, Associated Forms and OMB 

Number: Department of Defense 

Education Activity Student Registration; 

DoDEA Form 600; OMB Control 

Number 0704–TBD. 

Type of Request: New. 

Number of Respondents: 3,392. 

Responses per Respondent: 1. 

Annual Responses: 3,392. 

Average Burden per Response: 30 

minutes. 

Annual Burden Hours: 1,696 hours. 

Needs and Uses: This information 

collection is necessary to obtain 

information about Department of 

Defense military and civilian sponsors 

and the dependents they wish to enroll 

in a Department of Defense Education 

Activity (DoDEA) school. The 

information gathered on the sponsors is 

used to determine their dependents’ 

enrollment eligibility to attend the 

DoDEA schools and their enrollment 

category, (i.e., whether the sponsors’ 

dependents are authorized to enroll on 

a tuition-free or tuition-paying and 

space-required or space-available basis). 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; business or other for-profit; 

not-for-profit institutions; Federal 

government. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Jasmeet 

Seehra. 

Written comments and 

recommendations on the proposed 

information collection should be sent to 

Ms. Seehra at the Office of Management 

and Budget, Desk Officer for DoD, Room 

10236, New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503. 

You may also submit comments, 

identified by docket number and title, 

by the following method: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name, docket 

number and title for this Federal 

Register document. The general policy 

for comments and other submissions 

from members of the public is to make 

these submissions available for public 

viewing on the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov as they are 

received without change, including any 

personal identifiers or contact 

information. 

DOD Clearance Officer: Ms. Patricia 

Toppings. 

Written requests for copies of the 

information collection proposal should 

be sent to Ms. Toppings at WHS/ESD 

Information Management Division, 4800 

Mark Center Drive, East Tower, Suite 

02G09, Alexandria, VA 22350–3100. 

Dated: November 23, 2012. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30661 Filed 12–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 


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