The CFPB has issued its February 2016 complaint report which highlights complaints about prepaid cards and complaints from consumers in Texas and the Houston metro area.  The CFPB began taking complaints about prepaid cards in July 2014.

General findings include the following:

  • As of February 1, 2016, the CFPB handled approximately 811,700 complaints nationally, including approximately 21,800 complaints in January 2016. 
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As part of its Project Catalyst, the CFPB’s initiative for facilitating innovation in consumer-friendly financial products and services, the CFPB has announced a new research pilot using insights from behavioral economics and an American Express trial program to evaluate the effectiveness of certain practices to encourage prepaid card users to develop regular saving behavior.  … Continue Reading

On October 30, Barbara Mishkin reported that the CFPB scheduled a field hearing in Wilmington, Delaware on November 13. Barbara speculated at that time that the field hearing would be the occasion for the CFPB to unveil its long-awaited proposed regulation pertaining to prepaid cards. The CFPB has updated its announcement to state that the hearing will deal with “prepaid accounts.”… Continue Reading

Yesterday, the CFPB unveiled two model forms of prepaid card packaging disclosures that it is testing with consumers in Los Angeles.  According to its blog post, the CFPB is developing the disclosures in connection with a proposed prepaid card rule it expects to issue this spring. 

The LA testing follows a first round of testing that the CFPB conducted last month in Baltimore, MD. … Continue Reading

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has joined the CFPB’s call for more transparency in the area of campus financial products.  Last week, the GAO issued a report on college debit cards in which the GAO recommended that Congress consider requiring financial institutions that provide debit and prepaid card services to colleges to publicly disclose their agreements. … Continue Reading

Despite the CFPB’s plans to issue a proposed regulation concerning prepaid cards this spring, Senator Mark Warner has introduced a bill (S. 1903 ) that would require new disclosures for prepaid cards.  The bill, entitled the “Prepaid Card Disclosure Act of 2014,” would amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require any person that offers certain prepaid cards to provide a table of card fees with any application, solicitation or offer and, on the card, a toll-free number and website at which the consumer can access a disclosure of card fees. … Continue Reading

CFPB Director Richard Cordray was among the federal financial regulators who attended a closed door meeting yesterday with President Obama.  Other regulators attending the meeting included the Chairs of the Fed, FDIC and SEC.  At the meeting, President Obama was expected to urge the regulators to complete Dodd-Frank rulemaking. 

The Dodd-Frank rulemaking still on the CFPB’s “to do” list includes rules to implement the Dodd-Frank amendments to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that require financial institutions to collect and maintain certain data in connection with credit applications made by women- or minority-owned businesses and small businesses and to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act that greatly increase the types of information that financial institutions must report. … Continue Reading