---
kind: "section"
citation: "15 U.S.C. § 1642"
title: "15"
title_heading: "Commerce and Trade"
number: "1642"
heading: "Issuance of credit cards"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/15/1642"
units:
  - "Chapter 41 — Consumer Credit Protection"
  - "Subchapter I — Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure"
  - "Part B — Credit Transactions"
---

# §1642. Issuance of credit cards


No [credit card](/usc/15/1602.md?p=l) shall be issued except in response to a request or application therefor. This prohibition does not apply to the issuance of a [credit card](/usc/15/1602.md?p=l) in renewal of, or in substitution for, an [accepted credit card](/usc/15/1602.md?p=m).


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 90–321, title I, § 132, as added Pub. L. 91–508, title V, § 502(a), Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1126.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 91–508, title V, § 503(1), Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1127, provided that: “Section 132 of such Act [this section] takes effect on date of enactment of this title [Oct. 26, 1970].”