What is the Schumer Box?

Even though applying for a credit card may seem like an easy process, there are a number of things that many of us are known to over look. In the early days when the initial concept of credit cards came into the market, there was no sort of law that required credit card companies to disclose all the necessary information in relation their the card that they are offering. What this led to was many people applying for credit cards with a number of catches which they were not initially made aware off. This led to a lot of controversy in the market, especially in regards to products being advertised over the TV and through leaflets. It was due to these problems that the concept of the Schumer box came into play.

The Schumer box is named after the founder of the legislation, Charles Schumer. This legislation was bought into the United States of America at first in the year 2000. It wasn't until March 2004 that a similar legislation took effect in the United Kingdom. The law basically states that all credit card companies are required to list all of their long term rates in at least 18-point type font size with all other important disclosures in size 10 point type. This concept was bought into play to ensure that credit card customers were not led into an agreement that they were not fully aware off. Seeing as though credit cards are to do with dealing with credit, which in effect can turn into debt, it is very important that one makes careful decisions in these regards.

The Schumer box, by law, is required to disclose the annual fee is there is one, the APR rate which stands for the annual percentage rate, a grace period if one exists, how the finance was calculated, other transaction fees and other APR's as well. Other transaction fees and APR's will include information such as balance transfers, payments that are paid for the due date, exceeding the credit limit, cash advances etc. All information in regards to these particulars is very important to a credit card holder. Until and unless one is aware of these terms, they will not truly know what they are getting themselves into.

Due to a lack of knowledge on what a Schumer box exactly is, many people have been prone to credit card fraud. This in effect has seen them finding themselves with huge amounts of debt that they are now expected to pay when it all only started with a few harmless transactions. All the other information that can not be found in the Schumer box is said to be in the fine print agreement. This contains all the other terms and conditions that are not mentioned in the Schumer box. It is equally as important if not more to read the fine print agreement before you decide to sign the commitment. Ideally, you would want some professional advice in regards to exactly what you are committing your self to.