ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine two types of complex document: notices required by US retirement law when there are decreases in future benefits for pension plan participants; and the disclosures required in credit card solicitations, contracts and other financial accounts. By complex documents, I mean those dense, intricate, often confusing hybrid documents, typically composed of a combination of legal and financial languages and discourse. These difficult, complex documents often contain critical information that lay readers need to understand in order to make important financial decisions. The first type of document I discuss here is a notice/warning to participants in a
pension plan that their retirement benefits are going to decrease because the pension plan administrators made a change in the way the plan operates. This notice is required by US law. The reason that pension plan participants need the information is to make necessary changes in their retirement plans because one source of their retirement income is going to decrease. With the recent financial crisis, many pension plan administrators have changed their plan, sometimes eliminating it altogether, other times changing the company’s contribution to the retirement plan. Sometimes the person with the pension plan might receive a letter or flyer extolling the “new” plan, without any focus on, or perhaps no mention at all, of the negative piece of information. The person might also receive a brief letter, filled with financial and legal terms, such as “freeze,” “benefit accrual,” and “plan amendment” and little other text. The second type of documents I discuss here are those associated with credit cards:
the letters that we receive asking us to apply for a credit card, the terms of the credit card, and the credit card notices often enclosed with bills from the credit card company. These documents have some terms highlighted, as required by US law, but often contain much fine print that presents excellent examples of legal language unintelligible to most people. These documents are filled with lengthy, complex, and
embedded sentences, organization that is difficult to discern, and terms that have legal and financial meanings. These documents include sentences such as
The 0% introductory Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on Balance Transfers and Convenience Checks is applicable for the first 9 billing cycles after the account is opened and requires that timely payments are received.
