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Prepaid cards

Resources to help industry participants understand, implement, and comply with the Prepaid Rule.

Featured topic

On April 29, 2022, the Bureau released Spanish translations of Prepaid Model Forms.

On February 15, 2022, the Bureau issued a Compliance Bulletin on the Electronic Fund Transfer Act’s (EFTA’s) compulsory use prohibition. Section 913 of EFTA provides, among other things, that no person may require a consumer to establish an account for receipt of electronic fund transfers with a particular financial institution as a condition of receipt of a government benefit. The Bureau issued the Compliance Bulletin to reiterate that this prohibition in EFTA applies to government benefit accounts.

On April 13, 2020, the Bureau issued an interpretive rule on pandemic relief payments.

Rule

Browse the rule to review the prepaid-specific changes to Regulations E and Z.

Regulations and official interpretations

Browse Regulation E (12 CFR 1005) on: Interactive Bureau Regulations | eCFR

Browse Regulation Z (12 CFR 1026) on: Interactive Bureau Regulations | eCFR

The primary rule provisions specific to prepaid, and official interpretations, can be found in:

  • § 1005.2(b)(3), Definitions/ account/ prepaid account
  • § 1005.15, Electronic fund transfer of government benefits
  • § 1005.18, Requirements for financial institutions offering prepaid accounts
  • § 1005.19, Internet posting of prepaid account agreements
  • § 1026.61, Hybrid prepaid-credit cards

Quick references

Executive summaries

Executive summary of the 2018 prepaid rule amendments

Executive summary of the 2016 prepaid rule

Coverage chart

Prepaid account coverage chart

Other references

Prepaid rule’s key changes for payroll card accounts

Prepaid rule’s key changes for government benefit accounts

Prepaid rule's effective date

Guides

Small entity compliance guide

Download the latest version , version 3.1

Guide to preparing the short form disclosure for prepaid accounts

Preparing the short form disclosure for prepaid accounts

Supervision and examination materials

Guides to how the Bureau and prudential regulators will supervise and examine entities for compliance with Federal consumer financial law.

CFPB prepaid account examination procedures

Interagency examination procedures for EFTA

Interagency examination procedures for TILA

Compliance bulletins

CFPB Bulletin 2022-02 : Compliance Bulletin on the Electronic Fund Transfer Act’s Compulsory Use Prohibition and Government Benefit Accounts

Forms

Downloadable versions of the model forms and samples that were published in the Prepaid rule.

Browse forms and samples

Additional materials

Information regarding the agreement submission requirements of the prepaid rule.

Submission resources

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