We study the unintended consequences of consumer financial regulations, focusing on the CARD Act, which restricts consumer credit card issuers' ability to raise interest rates. We estimate the competitive responsiveness-the degree to which a credit card issuer changes offered interest rates in...

We investigate whether the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 influenced the debt structure of consumers. By debt structure, we mean the proportion of total available credit from credit cards for each consumer.The act enhances disclosures of contractual...

This paper asks first why consumers seek financing through credit cards. It then evaluates the impact on consumer welfare of the constraints on increasing interest rates present in the Credit Card Act. We model consumer financing in a setting where consumers do not commit to borrow from a given...