Here’s some good news from the world of credit: according to a study conducted by the web site CardHub.com, the language on applications for credit cards has improved in clarity in recent years. Specifically, the transparency and completeness of disclosure of a credit card’s terms in the large print has gotten better.

The study looked at several elements of a credit card agreement, including these:

• Clarity on rewards: This category rated how easy it was to interpret and apply rewards points.
• Clarity on annual fee: Here, the study looked at whether issuers displayed the annual fee prominently or hid it among other pricing details.
• Clarity on cost of carrying a balance for new purchases: This section looked at the clarity of introductory interest rates and APRs for new purchases made with the card (i.e. not balance transfers).
• Clarity on cost of making a balance transfer: Here, the study examined the ease of finding how much it would cost to transfer balances from one credit card to another.

The study based its clarity ratings on whether or not the researchers had to click to various pages before finding the information they wanted, whether they had to sift through fine print and whether information was clearly visible on the page.

The Findings

If you’re interested in applying for a new credit card, the study may be worth checking out, as it includes detailed scores for cards put out by the top ten issuers in the U.S. Overall, the study found these trends:

• Transparency is improving on annual fee disclosure: Whether because of new regulations introduced by the Credit CARD Act or other motivations, it seems that most card issuers have improved the clarity with which they explain the annual fees associated with their cards. Annual fees have apparently become more popular since the passage of the CARD Act, which limits overdraft fees.
• Transparency is still poor for balance transfers: One area in which many cards reportedly need improvement is information about transferring balances from one credit card to another. While balance transfers can be used to lower interest rates and thus help pay down debt, they often come with fees and unclear terms, which can make them more trouble than they’re worth.
• Cash-based rewards are easiest to understand: Another area where card issuers fell short of the transparency mark was on disclosing how rewards points and miles work and what exactly they’re worth. Because of this lack of clarity, the researchers recommend cash-back rewards as the most effective kind to use.

What might all of this mean? Hopefully, it will mean people are better informed about using their credit cards and able to manage their finances more effectively—and possibly reverse the trend of unmanageable credit card debt and filing bankruptcy that the country has seen for decades.