Alan Siegel gave a talk at TED calling for simplified legal documents, with less jargon and easier-to-follow design and layouts. This is long overdue, especially when it comes to credit card agreements. Here's a TEDBlog post featuring Siegel's proposed new credit card agreement, one that is concise and clear, with a good design that makes the whole document less confusing and more useful for the consumer.
It'd be great if the creditors adopted new standards like this in their documentation, but I'm not expecting anything from them. Documents like this come from legal departments, not designers, and a cynic might argue that dense, confusing credit card agreements make it easier for creditors to take advantage of their customers.
I'd also like to see more clarity in the design of monthly credit card statements, especially since the Credit CARD Act requires creditors to cram more disclosures into their monthly statements.
Comments