Transparency Labs Sheds Light on Credit Card Fees and Account Terms

If you think your credit card and financial accounts are too complicated, you're not alone. And if you find it hard to keep track of account changes and understand your rights and obligations -- well, join the club. 

That's why we at BSD were proud to be in the audience this week for the debut of Los Angeles-based Transparency Labs, our client, at the Finovate 2011 conference. Transparency Labs has built the National Fine Print Repository, a database of account terms from banks, credit card issuers, cellphone companies and retirement accounts. And it's preparing to launch a suite of innovative consumer products that will help you understand your account terms, keep track of changes, and shop for better deals. Stay tuned as the Transparency Labs product line begins rolling out next year, and you'll be able to sign up and take advantage of what the company calls its "Fine Print Genome Project," the only database of its kind in the world, built by lawyers who have spent thousands of hours analyzing contracts from hundreds of companies and compiling their terms into a machine-searchable form.

As Transparency Labs founder David Hirsch told David Lazarus of the L.A. Times this week: "This fine-print world we're living in, it's bad for consumers, it's bad for business, and it's bad for the country. You've got people not understanding what they're agreeing to, and they're getting clobbered." Transparency's consumer products will help you understand your accounts' terms, see where the risks are, and mitigate them, saving you more of your money in the process.

"Ultimately, this kind of transparency in contracting benefits everyone," said Hirsch. "It doesn't just help consumers -- it makes customers more loyal, which benefits companies, and it makes transactions easier, which helps the economy." Watch for Transparency Labs' consumer products to hit the market early next year.

BSD's Design Director Matt Ipcar, and lead designer Will Wan, created the visual identity you see on the company's website and in its printed materials.

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