The US consumer bureau has changed part of the CARD Act that lawmakers and industry groups said kept some stay-at-home parents from getting credit cards.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it made changes to a requirement in the rule that called for companies to verify applicants’ ability to pay before approving them for credit cards.
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Regulators initially interpreted that provision to mean that credit card companies could consider only individuals’ independent income, not total household pay.
According to industry groups and several US senators, the law led credit card issuers to deny cards to some stay-at-home parents and other non-working people who would otherwise have been approved.
Lawmakers have since admitted that this was an unintended consequence of the law and have now changed the CARD act in order to fix the problem.
The consumer bureau said that credit card companies can now consider the income of a spouse or partner if the card applicant is at least 21 years old.
"Stay-at-home spouses or partners who have access to resources that allow them to make payments on a credit card can now get their own cards," consumer bureau director Richard Cordray said.
Congress created the consumer bureau as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law and gave it oversight of mortgages, student loans and credit cards. The US Federal Reserve initially implemented the 2009 credit card law, but that responsibility later moved to the consumer bureau.
The bureau said that the final regulation follows proposed changes released in October and that credit card issuers will have six months to comply with the new rules.
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