Card companies are committed to providing you with clear and consistent information about card products to enable you to make good borrowing decisions.

In 2004 the UK card industry introduced a range of initiatives that go beyond current regulatory requirements to improve the transparency, and therefore the competitiveness, of its cards. Major initiatives include:

• The introduction of the Summary Box, provided with all pre-contract marketing material, to give you information in a simple format about APRs, monthly interest rates, the length of the interest-free period, how payments are allocated, what the minimum payment is, all fees for having the card, all charges that might be incurred, and all default charges that might be incurred. Since 31 March 2004 all issuers have published the Summary Box prominently either in written format or on their websites, allowing you to make direct comparisons between their products. For more information about the Summary Box go to www.summarybox.info
• The development of www.choosingandusing.com, a free and impartial guide to choosing and using credit cards. Launched on 21 July 2005 the website provides a simple guide to help you understand how credit cards work, the factors that you should consider when making your choice, and the best ways to use your card. In addition to the web pages provided there is a long-form version of the text that can be downloaded and printed off to read at your convenience.
• Improved information on monthly statements, introduced during 2003 and 2004, including information on estimated interest payments and a standard warning against making minimum repayments over the long term.
• New industry policies on the marketing of credit card cheques and on the application of credit limit increases have been in place since April 2004, with further improvements relating to cardholder opt-out from receiving credit card cheques in force since October 2004.
• Significant industry input into the current regulatory review of APR calculation, which has created a unified method of calculating the APR. The new unified APR calculation has had statutory force since 31 October 2004 when the Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations 2004 came into effect.
• Continuing industry research into over-indebtedness and input into the work of the Department of Trade and Industry's Over-indebtedness Advisory Group.
• A current review of data sharing policies, initiated by APACS, looking at ways to improve data sharing amongst card issuers and so improve lending decisions. The immediate result of this work was an agreement amongst card issuers to share full credit card data within the constraints of current legislation.

The 2005 Banking Code includes guidelines on the Summary Box, wealth warnings, and the provision of credit card cheques.