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JPay, LLC

On October 19, 2021, the Bureau issued a consent order against JPay, LLC (JPay). JPay, headquartered in Miramar, Florida, contracts with Departments of Corrections around the country to provide financial products and services to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. JPay provided prepaid cards to formerly incarcerated individuals upon their release from prison or jail (JPay debit release card). The debit release cards contained the balance of funds owed to former inmates upon their release, including their commissary money, as well as any “gate money,” which are entitlements provided pursuant to state or local law, policy, or regulation to ease transition to society after release from prison or jail. The Bureau found that JPay violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and its implementing Regulation E by requiring consumers to establish an account with the particular financial institution that issued the JPay debit release card as a condition of receiving a government benefit, namely their gate money. JPay’s violations of EFTA and Regulation E also constituted violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA). The Bureau also found that JPay engaged in unfair and abusive acts and practices by causing fees to be imposed through its JPay debit release card on consumers who were required to get a JPay debit release card to access the money owed to them at the time of their release from prison or jail. In addition, the Bureau found that JPay violated the CFPA’s prohibition against unfair acts and practices by causing some consumers to be charged fees on their JPay debit release card that were not authorized by their cardholder agreements, and the CFPA’s prohibition against deceptive acts and practices by misrepresenting fees of some JPay debit release cards. The consent order requires JPay to pay $4 million for consumer redress, prohibits JPay from engaging in the illegal conduct found by the Bureau, and requires JPay to pay a $2 million civil money penalty.

Related documents

Consent order

Stipulation

Press release

CFPB Penalizes JPay for Siphoning Taxpayer-Funded Benefits Intended to Help People Re-enter Society After Incarceration

Read the full Statement of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on this action

Case Docket

View case filings