Underwriting Credit Cards, Overwriting Congress, and Rewriting Family Law: The Treatment of Household Income in Consumer Lending

Abstract

Part I of this Article begins by considering the origins of the Board's rule-reviewing the legal and economic frameworks governing them. Part II then examines the position of families and women in this framework, noting that many other fields of law take an opposite approach and treat spouses as a single economic unit. Part III, in addition to highlighting the constitutional concerns regarding the Board's rule, concludes that there is no value in barring women from the credit market- only high costs-and argues that the amended rule should instead recognize the non-income-earning spouse's financial participation in the household.