TITLE: Chile's National Consumer Service Publishes New Credit Card Transparency Regulation
BODY:
On August 6, 2026, the National Consumer Service (Servicio Nacional del Consumidor, SERNAC) published Supreme Decree No. 75 in the Official Journal, establishing a comprehensive new regulation for credit cards that replaces rules in effect since 2012. The regulation aims to enhance consumer understanding of credit card terms before and during use, facilitating comparison between products and promoting informed purchasing decisions.
SERNAC developed the regulation through its Financial Consumer Subdirectorate in collaboration with the Complex Engineering Systems Institute (Instituto Sistemas Complejos de Ingeniería, ISCI), the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Chile, and the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism. Key changes include strengthened pre-contractual disclosure requirements, standardised information on interest rates, annual equivalent charge (Carga Anual Equivalente, CAE), commissions, late payment costs, prepayment rights, and voluntary product closure. A common summary sheet format across all issuers will incorporate purchase simulations showing potential total payments based on card usage patterns. The monthly account statement has been redesigned to highlight total payment amounts and payment deadlines, with warnings explaining the benefits of paying full balances and consequences of minimum or partial payments. The regulation incorporates additional modifications to strengthen transparency protections across all stages of the financial relationship, aiming to prevent consumer over-indebtedness.
The regulation enters into force eighteen months after publication, providing issuers time to adapt contracts, quotations, summary sheets, account statements, digital platforms and systems to the new requirements. SERNAC will monitor implementation compliance through its consumer rights enforcement powers.