About the data
Learn more about the data in the prepaid agreements database and how to use it.
Background
Where the data come from
This database contains prepaid account agreements, which contain general terms and conditions, pricing, and fee information, that issuers submit to the Bureau under the terms of the Prepaid Rule. The database also contains certain other information about those agreements (referred to here as “metadata”).
Any agreements issuers offered as of April 1, 2019, were required to be submitted to the Bureau by May 1, 2019, subject to certain exceptions in the Prepaid Rule. Going forward, issuers must submit agreements to the Bureau within 30 days of when they offer new agreements or when previously submitted agreements have been amended. Issuers also must notify the Bureau within 30 days of when they no longer offer previously submitted agreements.
What the data consist of
For each prepaid account agreement, issuers must submit to the Bureau the documents containing general terms and conditions, pricing, and fee information. These documents include the 1) short form disclosure; 2) the long form disclosure, which includes fee information and statements required to be disclosed in the long form disclosure; and 3) the prepaid agreement.
For the first two items:
- The short form disclosure sets forth a short summary of key fees (for example, the monthly fee, if there is one) and other information about the prepaid account (such as whether overdraft/credit is offered). It must be in a specific format.
- The long form disclosure is the companion to the short form disclosure and provides more comprehensive fee information, including all fees that may be imposed in connection with the prepaid account, and the conditions under which they may be imposed.
Agreement file formats
Issuers may choose to submit the prepaid agreement, short form, and long form information all in one file, or in two or three files. Files are in the Portable Document Format (PDF) file format, and are required to be text searchable and digitally created.
Using the data
Using the searchable database
The searchable database allows users to find agreements by product name, issuer name, program manager name, or other relevant party name. Results can also be filtered by prepaid product type or status.
Note that we are unable to do a full-text search of agreement files from the database. However, after downloading an agreement file, you should be able to search within its text, as the files are required to be text-searchable, digitally-created PDFs.
Access the searchable database. All data is refreshed nightly.
Using the downloadable data
As an alternative to the searchable database, we provide a compressed bulk download of all agreement files in our database, as well as CSV files of the most up-to-date metadata associated with the agreements.
Access downloadable data. All data is refreshed nightly.
Frequently-used terms
Effective date: The effective date of the prepaid account agreement.
Issuer name: The name of the issuer of the prepaid account to which a consumer is legally obligated under the terms of the prepaid account agreement.
Prepaid product type: The type of prepaid account: GPR (General Purpose Reloadable), Payroll, Government Benefits, Digital wallet/P2P, Prison Release, Refunds, Student, Tax, Travel, or Other. Please see additional Bureau resources for more information on GPR, Government Benefit, or Payroll products.
Program manager: The name of the program manager for the prepaid account. For some prepaid accounts, program managers are responsible for designing, managing, marketing, and operating certain prepaid account programs. Some issuers act as the program manager for their prepaid accounts.
Other relevant parties: The names of other relevant parties, if applicable, for each agreement (e.g., the employer for a payroll card program or the government agency for a government benefit program).
Status: Status of the prepaid account agreement—either active or withdrawn. Issuers must submit their currently-offered prepaid account agreements. If an issuer no longer offers a prepaid account agreement that was previously submitted to the Bureau, the issuer must notify the Bureau that it is withdrawing the agreement.