How to Find Your Credit Card Agreement and What to Check in It

Published by the Modern Lending Solutions editorial team. Last reviewed: October 30, 2026.

Short answer: your card issuer must either post your own agreement on its website or send you a copy within 30 days of your request. For cards offered to the public, you can also search the CFPB’s credit card agreement database or the issuer’s website. Small issuers do not have to send agreements to the CFPB, but they still have to give you yours. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.

What counts as the agreement

Regulation Z defines the credit card agreement as “the written document or documents evidencing the terms of the legal obligation, or the prospective legal obligation, between a card issuer and a consumer”, and says it “also includes the pricing information” (12 CFR 1026.58(b)(1), eCFR, text up to date as of October 28, 2026, read October 30, 2026). The issuer is “the entity to which a consumer is legally obligated” (1026.58(b)(4)). The CFPB notes that the name on the front of the card “may not be the actual issuer of the card”, and says to look on the back of the card or on your latest statement for the issuer’s name (CFPB, no last-modified date shown, read October 30, 2026).

Your own agreement: post it or send it

For any open credit card account, Regulation Z says the issuer must either “Post and maintain the cardholder’s agreement on its Web site” or “Promptly provide a copy of the cardholder’s agreement to the cardholder upon the cardholder’s request” (1026.58(e)(1)). If it sends copies on request:

You must be able to ask both on the issuer’s website and by calling a phone number shown on that website and “clearly identified as to purpose” (1026.58(e)(1)).
The issuer must send or make the copy available “no later than 30 days after the issuer receives the cardholder’s request” (1026.58(e)(1)).
It may send it in “either electronic or paper form, regardless of the form of the cardholder’s request” (1026.58(e)(3)(v)).
An issuer without a website where you can see your account may take requests by phone, with the number on its website or on each statement (1026.58(e)(2)).

The copy must show “the specific provisions and pricing information applicable to the particular cardholder”, complete and accurate as of a date no more than 60 days before it is posted or before your request is received (1026.58(e)(3)(iv)). An “open account” includes one where you can still borrow, or one with a balance that has not been charged off (1026.58(b)(6)).

The CFPB database and issuer websites

Card issuers must send the CFPB, each quarter, the agreements they offer to the public, with deadlines tied to January 31, April 30, July 31 and October 31 (1026.58(c)(1)). They must also post those agreements on their public website, where they must be accessible “without submission of personally identifiable information” and updated at least quarterly (1026.58(d)(1), (3) and (4)). The CFPB says its database lets you “search for an agreement by the name of the issuer”, and that its agreements “have general terms and conditions, pricing, and fee information”. For your own account, it says to contact the issuer: “By law, the issuer must make your agreement available to you upon request” (CFPB).

The exceptions, and what they do not cover

Three exceptions apply only to sending agreements to the CFPB (and so to posting them for the public under 1026.58(d)):

De minimis: an issuer with “fewer than 10,000 open credit card accounts” on the last business day of the quarter (1026.58(c)(5)).
Private label: an agreement offered only for store cards used at a single merchant or affiliated group, in plans each with fewer than 10,000 open accounts (1026.58(b)(8) and (c)(6)).
Product testing: an agreement offered to a limited group for a limited time, used for fewer than 10,000 open accounts (1026.58(c)(7)).

None of these removes your right to your own agreement. The official interpretation says the 1026.58(e) requirement “applies to all open credit card accounts, regardless of whether such agreements are required to be submitted to the Bureau”, and that an issuer under the de minimis exception “would still be required to provide cardholders with access to their specific agreements” (Official Interpretation, comment 58(e)-1, read October 30, 2026). The same comment says an agreement no longer offered to the public “would still need to be provided to the cardholder to whom it applies”.

What to check before you borrow

In agreements sent to the CFPB and posted for the public, the pricing information must sit in a single addendum (1026.58(c)(8)(ii)(A)). Pricing information is the list in 12 CFR 1026.6(b)(2)(i) through (xii) (eCFR, read October 30, 2026), and it leaves out temporary or promotional rates (1026.58(b)(7)). Look for:

Annual percentage rates, and for a variable rate, the index and margin (1026.58(c)(8)(ii)(C)).
Annual or other fees for having the card, and any fixed finance charge or minimum interest charge.
The grace period and the balance computation method.
Transaction, cash advance and balance transfer fees.
Late payment, over-the-limit and returned-payment fees.
Any required insurance, debt cancellation or debt suspension coverage.

A public agreement may show a range of rates, such as purchase APRs “ranging from 13 percent to 19 percent” (the rule’s own example, 1026.58(c)(8)(ii)(B)). Your own copy under 1026.58(e) shows the terms for your account. Related guides: late fee rules, over-the-limit fee opt-in, trailing interest and grace periods and rate increase notices.

Questions to ask the issuer

Where on your website is my agreement, or how do I request a copy?
What date did you receive my request?
Does the copy show the rates and fees that apply to my account now?
Have any terms changed since I opened the account, and where are those changes shown?

The CFPB says that if you have trouble getting your agreement, “let us know by submitting a complaint” (CFPB).

A $2,000 balance, only for the math

This example is only for the math, not a typical balance. It compares paying $2,000 over 24 months at the Federal Reserve’s August 2026 averages: 22.36% for credit card plans and 11.90% APR for 24-month personal loans (G.19). Your agreement shows your card’s actual rate.

Option	Monthly payment	Interest	Total paid
Card at 22.36%, 24 months	$104.11	$498.64	$2,498.64
Personal loan at 11.90%, 24 months	$94.05	$257.20	$2,257.20

$104.11 x 24 = $2,498.64, and $94.05 x 24 = $2,257.20. Your rate depends on your credit and the lender, and fees raise the cost. See credit card minimum payment vs personal loan and personal loan APR vs interest rate.

Checklist

Find the issuer’s name on the back of the card or on your statement.
Look for your agreement on the issuer’s website.
If it is not there, request a copy online or by phone and note the date.
Expect the copy within 30 days of the issuer receiving your request.
Check the APRs, fees, grace period and balance computation method.
Compare the total cost before you borrow.

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Disclosure: Modern Lending Solutions is not a lender, loan broker or agent for any lender or loan broker, and does not make credit decisions. Any compensation we receive is paid by participating lenders, only for advertising services. This guide is general information, not financial or legal advice.