A new study of credit card agreements finds they are so wordy and complex. 4 out of 5 adults can't read them. Researchers with CreditCard.com analyzed more than a thousand agreements and found most were above a 12 grade reading level.
“It's long and most people don't have time to sit there for 20 minutes and try to make sense of it," said credit card user, Amy Wright.
Researchers found that the wordiest agreements were issued for some visa and master cards at a little over 20,000 words, in comparison the original constitution only had a little over 4000.
But before you throw yours in the trash there are some key points you need to know.
Attorney and Converse College Finance Professor Tom Maynard says you don't have to read it all, just as long as you know the essentials.
"The basics would quite frankly be, if you're not having to pay an annual fee, and if you don't have to pay any interest on your borrowed money, as long as you pay your credit card bill in full on the due date, that's the important thing to know," he said.
Experts also advise finding out the grace period before you have to pay interest, knowing when the bank starts drawing interest for a cash advance, and knowing what percent is used when calculating your minimum balance due.
So then why all the lengthy paragraphs?
Maynard says in defense of the banks there's no way to dumb down that language and still be accurate.
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