Live from Durham, NC!

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We’re in Durham, NC, today to hold a field hearing on general purpose reloadable prepaid cards, commonly known as prepaid cards. If you’re looking for our livestream, you’ve come to the right place.

Today’s live events have now ended. You can watch the recording below, or read CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s remarks.

If you missed the event, CFPB Director Richard Cordray announced that the Bureau is asking for comments about general purpose reloadable prepaid cards, referred to here simply as “prepaid cards”, through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). Before we act, we want your input. Here are some of the things we’re considering:

What steps could the Bureau take to most effectively regulate these products to provide the consumer with transparent, useful, and timely fee disclosures? Should market participants be required to provide disclosure pre-sale, post-sale, or both?

The Bureau intends to extend federal consumer protections to prepaid cards. Should proposed consumer protections be the same as for checking account debit cards? Should there be any modifications to protections as they are extended to prepaid cards?

Currently, most prepaid cards do not offer a savings account associated with the card. The Bureau seeks public input on the costs, and benefits, and consumer protection issues related to savings features offered with prepaid cards.

Additional questions are in the ANPR. Do you have questions or comments of your own to share? We’d love to hear them.

Sign up for our email list and we’ll notify you when the comment period opens.

Here’s the recording of today’s panel and field hearing.

  • Rick Dane

    Cordray just blessed an overdraft fee of $15. If someone overdrafts by
    $50 and they repays it in a week, why should a bank make 30% interest on
    a seven day loan? Those are loan shark interest rates.

    Some “consumer protection” bureau. 

  • Alicia

    Really, let us rip off  the low income population with respect and dignity??

  • Acanary

    VISA-hey it’s not us, the consumer and merchant set the fees, we just deploy products.

    How much power do the unbanked in setting fees???

  • Mike

    Mr Eakes is correct.  Leading financial institutions in other countries profitably provide financial services to low income customers by using technology and improved operating systems to drive down costs far below US institutions.  These banks provide more services delivered through 2G mobile phones and smart cards at a fraction the cost of US prepaid debit cards.  The products and services offered by banks such as Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Capitec Bank in South Africa and Equity Bank in Kenya leave prepaid debit cards in the dust.  We can do much better.  In the meantime, rates on the cards should be comparable to bank debit cards. 

  • Alicia

    Really Dan?? none of your customers want protections from high fees and getting ripped off?

  • jchn

    where can we view a recorded version if we missed the livestream?

  • Pallred

    Can you identify who was on the two panels?

    • frank

      they all introduce themselves – just listen to the replay

  • John

    The consumer testimonies prove that abuses are far and few between, and the industry has provided innovative products that work for them.

    • Mike

      Do 5 or 10 testimonies prove that abuses are far and few between?

      • John

        The CFPB provided a hearing for consumers to voice their concerns, and if abuses were prevalent, we would most likely have heard from them.  Only one out of the group stated that he was dissatisfied with the fee disclosure.  The actual outcry came from paid consumer advocates, making a weak case for more regulation in the absence of real examples.

      • John

        The CFPB provided a hearing for consumers to voice their concerns, and if abuses were prevalent, we would most likely have heard from them.  Only one out of the group stated that he was dissatisfied with the fee disclosure.  The actual outcry came from paid consumer advocates, making a weak case for more regulation in the absence of real examples.

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