2arrs, 2ells - Credit Card Facts

24th May 2009

Post reblogged from Neven Mrgan's tumbl with 5 notes

Credit Card Facts

The New York Times has an op-ed piece by Design for Democracy, an AIGA nonprofit group seeking to improve citizens’ interactions with the government better wherever a more thoughtful design would do so. You may remember their election ballot design guidelines. This time they’ve tackled credit card disclosure documents. You know the stuff: rolling fields of condensed, uppercase type on the back of the junk mail you throw out most days, describing the precise manner in which you’ll get boned by the credit card company.

I kid the banks; they provide a sometimes helpful service. Now if only they were in the habit of disclosing your benefits and obligations as clearly as the proposed design below does. The designers describe it thusly:

Inspired by the Nutrition Facts label found on food packaging, we designed its equivalent for credit cards: an easy-to-understand chart that would simply and clearly lay out interest rates, card fees and payment terms so consumers could understand their accounts. Just as Nutrition Facts help us make smart choices about food, Credit Card Facts would enable consumers to make informed choices about acquiring and using credit cards.

Chart by By DAVID GIBSON, CARLA HALL and SYLVIA HARRIS, from NYTimes.com

This is obviously modeled on Nutrition Facts labels, of which I have nothing bad to say. It’s a great idea, with one possible problem: the rules governing financial transactions and accounts can get very complicated, well beyond what truthfully and wholly fits in a 3-inch box. I’m not one to advocate for restrictions on creativity in any industry, but perhaps a rollout of mandatory labels like this (which is unlikely to happen, mind you) would have to be accompanied by some simplification of the rules themselves, to the extent that the average person could actually understand them.

I’m a fan (be sure to click through to see the image).

Source: mrgan