Frequently asked questions

Q1:	What is the CARD Act? The CARD Act became law in May. The government passed the Act to help protect you and other consumers with clear, transparent and easy to understand terms and conditions. The most significant change limits when creditors can increase your interest rate on your current credit cards. It also prohibits billing and payment practices that the Federal Reserve calls “unfair or deceptive.” Some of this Act’s provisions also affect open-end lending practices.
Q2:	What’s an open-end loan? Open-end lending means you sign one master application and receive disclosures for all our loans at that time. That way, it’s easy for you to add loans because we already have your information on file.
Q3:	What are First Tech’s open-end loans? Our open-end loans include:
		Auto loans opened in a First Tech branch
		Personal loans
		Home equity loans and lines of credit
	This Act doesn’t affect our closed-end loans, where members need to sign loan documents each time:
		First Mortgage loans
		Auto loans opened at a dealership
Q4:	Why did I receive CARD Act information with my statement when I don’t have First Tech credit card? A few of the CARD Act provisions apply to open-end loans as well as credit cards. Open-end lending means that when you sign your loan documents, we give you the disclosures for all our loans. That way you can easily add loans without having to sign another set of documents.
Q5:	When will you consider my loan late? If you receive paper statements, we won’t consider your loan payment late until 21 days after we mail your statement or your due date, whichever is later. If you’d like to know the date we mailed your statement, give us a call at 800.637.0852.
	If you receive electronic statements, we’ll consider your loan payment late 21 days after we send the email letting you know your First Tech statement is ready or your due date, whichever is later.
Q6:	When did you mail my statement? It can take a couple of days to mail all of our statements each month. Give us a call at 800.637.0852 and we’ll tell you the day we mailed your statement..
Q7:	When will you consider my credit card late? Currently, we mail your credit card statements 21 days before the due date. This means we’re already meeting the CARD Act guidelines. Please continue making your payment by the due date printed on your statement. We’ll consider your payment late if made after the due date.

Have an additional question? Please give us a call at 800.637.0852.