Charge Card Disclosures - Obligations Arising From Particular Transactions - Civil Law - CA

Section § 1748.20

This law is just saying that you can refer to it as the “Areias-Robbins Charge Card Full Disclosure Act of 1986.” It's like giving the law a nickname for ease of reference.

This title may be cited as the “ Areias-Robbins Charge Card Full Disclosure Act of 1986.”

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Section § 1748.21

This law defines what a 'charge card' is: a type of credit card used mainly for personal or household expenses, where you don't pay interest and can't pay in installments. The cardholder is the person who gets the card, and the issuer is the company or person who gives out the card.

For the purposes of this title:

(a) “Charge card” means any card, plate, or other credit device pursuant to which the charge card issuer extends credit to the charge cardholder, primarily for personal, family, or household purposes where (1) the credit extended does not subject the charge cardholder to a finance charge and (2) the charge cardholder cannot automatically access credit that is repayable in installments.

(b) “Charge cardholder” means the person to whom a charge card is issued.

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Section § 1748.22

If you're applying for a charge card in California, companies must clearly show certain fees and terms in their applications or solicitations. They have to tell you if there's an annual fee, if the card doesn't allow you to pay in installments, and if there's a cash advance fee. They can use a pre-set table format to share this information to make sure they're compliant. It's important they also offer you the chance to get further details about the card's terms. If there’s a program that allows extending credit, they need to explain those terms ahead of time. Additionally, card applications given out in person must include a statement offering detailed disclosures if requested, unless those details are already provided.

(a) On and after October 1, 1987, issuers of charge cards shall clearly and conspicuously disclose in any charge card application form or preapproved written solicitation for a charge card mailed to a consumer who resides in this state to apply for a charge card, whether or not the charge card issuer is located in this state, other than an application form or solicitation included in a magazine, newspaper, or other publication distributed by someone other than the charge card issuer, the following information:

(1) Any fee or charge assessed for or which may be assessed for the issuance or renewal of the charge card, expressed as an annualized amount. The fee or charge required to be disclosed pursuant to this paragraph shall be denominated as an “annual fee.”

(2) The charge card does not permit the charge cardholder to defer payment of charges incurred by the use of the charge card upon receipt of a periodic statement of charges from the charge card issuer.

(3) Any fee that may be assessed for an extension of credit to a charge cardholder where the extension of credit is made by the charge card issuer, and is not a credit sale and where the charge cardholder receives the extension of credit in the form of cash or where the charge cardholder obtains the extension of credit through the use of a preprinted check, draft, or similar credit device provided by the charge card issuer to obtain an extension of credit. This fee shall be denominated as a “cash advance fee” in the disclosure required by this paragraph.

(b) A charge card issuer shall be conclusively presumed to have complied with the disclosure requirements of subdivision (a) if the table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 is completed with the applicable terms offered by the charge card issuer in a clear and conspicuous manner and the completed table in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 is then provided to the person invited to apply for the charge card as a part of or in material which accompanies the charge card application or written advertisement which invites a person to apply for a charge card.

The charge card issuer shall include as part of table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 the following sentences in the boxes or in a footnote outside of the boxes that relate to the interest rate disclosure: “This is a charge card which does not permit the charge cardholder to pay for purchases made using this charge card in installments. All charges made by a person to whom the charge card is issued are due and payable upon the receipt of a periodic statement of charges by the charge cardholder.”

The inclusion or exclusion of an expiration date with table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 or the use of footnotes in the boxes of the table to set out the information required to be disclosed by this section outside of the boxes of the table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 shall not affect the conclusive presumption of compliance pursuant to this subdivision. If a charge card issuer does not offer or require one of the selected attributes of credit cards in the table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 the charge card issuer shall employ the phrase in the appropriate box or in the appropriate footnote “Not offered” or “Not required” or a substantially similar phrase without losing the conclusive presumption of compliance with the requirements of subdivision (a). If one of the selected attributes of charge cards required to be disclosed pursuant to subdivision (a) is not applicable to the charge card issuer, the charge card issuer may employ in the appropriate box or in the appropriate footnote outside of the box in the table set out in subdivision (b) of Section 1748.11 the phrase “Not applicable” or a substantially similar phrase without losing the conclusive presumption of compliance with the requirements of subdivision (a).

(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed or construed to prohibit a charge card issuer from disclosing additional terms, conditions, or information, whether or not relating to the disclosures required under this section by subdivision (a) or in connection with the disclosure provided in subdivision (b), in conjunction with the disclosures required by this section.

(d) If the charge card issuer offers to the charge cardholder any program or service under which the charge cardholder may elect to access open-end credit, the charge card issuer shall provide to the charge cardholder, before the charge cardholder has the right to access that credit, the initial disclosure statement required by Regulation Z, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 1748.10.

(e) All charge card application forms distributed in this state on or after October 1, 1987, other than by mail, shall contain a statement in substantially the following form:

“If you wish to receive disclosure of the terms of this credit card, pursuant to the Areias Charge Card Full Disclosure Act of 1986, check here and return to the address on this application.”

A box shall be printed in or next to this statement for placing such a checkmark.

However, this subdivision does not apply if the application contains the disclosures provided for in this title.

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Section § 1748.23

In California, you can't give up your rights under this specific law because doing so goes against public policy, and any agreement that tries to make you waive these rights won't hold up in court.

Any waiver of the provisions of this title is contrary to public policy, and is void and unenforceable.

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