With holiday shopping in packed swing, the customer budgetary Protection Bureau is warning financing card companies it’s on to their illegal bait-and-switch rewards tactics used on consumers.

Some financing card companies are illegally devaluing rewards points and airline miles, relying on fine print to cancel rewards consumers earned, using vague language on how to earn rewards, or making it challenging to redeem rewards, the CFPB said. It also called out extremely high gain rates and statement and late fees on retail financing cards.

To assist consumers, the CFPB launched the Explore financing Cards tool using open data so people can more easily make apples-to-apples comparisons about their financing card options. The tool provides unbiased, comprehensive data for more than 500 cards, and the data is available to everyone, it said.

“Large financing card issuers too often play a shell game to lure people into high-expense cards, boosting their own profits while denying consumers the rewards they’ve earned,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. “When financing card issuers commitment cashback bonuses or free round-trip airfares, they should actually deliver them.”

What does the Explore financing Cards tool do?

The tool allows consumers to contrast cards based on financing score range, gain rates, fees, and rewards offerings so they can choose the most suitable one, the CFPB said.

Earn rewards on your spending: view the best financing cards

The tool will also promote competition, allowing smaller providers and companies with better financing card offers a chance to compete, the regulator said.

By law, only the 25 largest issuers of financing cards and 125 others selected by the CFPB as a representative sample of all issuers are required to submit data to the CFPB. Other issuers are encouraged to voluntarily contribute their data, CFPB said.

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How much can consumers save?

A CFPB study showed the 25 largest financing card issuers charged gain rates 8 to 10 percentage points higher than smaller banks and financing unions. That difference can expense the average cardholder $400 to $500 per year, it said.

Retail financing cards can be even costlier for consumers. Ninety percent of retail cards reported a maximum APR above 30%, compared to only 38% of non-retail general purpose cards, the CFPB said.

Worse, many private label cards have a fixed APR, so all cardholders, regardless of creditworthiness, are charged the same rate, the CFPB said. In December, private label cards for the top retailers had an average APR of 32.66%. Large retail financing card issuers also increased the expense of their cards by charging for document statements, the agency said.

boost-sharing agreements between retailers and issuers may motivate aggressive retail card marketing to consumers and get them to spend more, the CFPB said.

Medora Lee is a money, markets and expense management reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for expense management tips and business information every Monday through Friday morning.