Here's a ruling that ought to give bank and credit card company executives pause: The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said JPMorgan Chase failed to make "clear and conspicuous disclosure" of the annual percentage rates it could impose, as required by federal law, even though the terms were stated in the fine print of the cardholder agreement, according to the AP. The three-judge panel reversed a previous ruling.

The case involved a couple that was paying an 8.99 percent annual rate when the amount suddenly "skyrocketed" to 24.24 percent. The five dense paragraphs of disclosure were not good enough, the judges ruled. One judge wrote the disclosure was "buried too deeply in the fine print" for a reasonable cardholder to realize the bank could raise the APR for "any reason at all." So this raises a big issue: How much disclosure is enough? And what form should it take? The new credit card reform bills take a crack at this.

For more:
- here's the AP article