The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently amended a rule that prevented stay-at-home parents from obtaining credit cards.
Intended to prevent people from falling into debt, the rule required credit card companies to take into account the applicant’s individual income rather than household income. It eventually garnered disapproval due to the unfair restrictions it placed on spouses who were full-time parents.
Holly McCall, member of the group MomsRising.org blogged about the disgruntling experience of getting turned down for Target credit card despite her excellent credit score and her husband’s stable job. She then started a petition against this rule on Change.org that gained 45,000 signatures and the attention of some legislators, who eventually joined her cause.
Holly McCall and her sons
Last June, Shelley Moore Capito, chair of the House of Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit spoke against the rule in a Congressional hearing. She said the rule that poses an added danger for women in abusive relationships and could create unnecessary difficulties for those who are divorced or widowed, or are unemployed while their spouse is serving in the military.
In October, the agency took on a proposal that would allow credit card applicants of at least 21 years of age to “rely on third-party income to which they have a reasonable expectation of access.” The change has taken nearly a year to be implemented, but is now official, just in time for Mother’s Day.
In support of the new change, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, Shelley Moore Capito, and Carolyn Maloney called it a “recognition of how modern families work.”
via TIME Magazine
images via Change.org, SheKnows.com
