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Discussion Paper
The laws, regulations, and industry practices that protect consumers who use electronic payment systems: policy considerations
This is the third in a series of three papers that examines the laws, regulations, and voluntary industry practices that may aid consumers who contest an electronic transaction because of error, fraud, or merchant dispute. The first two papers describe the complex web of protections available to users of four popular electronic payment mechanisms: credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and ACH e-checks. This third paper considers how protections related to fraud, error, and disputes affect market participants. The paper concludes that (i) the current protection mechanisms make it more ...
Discussion Paper
Prepaid card markets and regulation
Prepaid cards, also commonly referred to as stored-value cards, are typically credit card-sized pieces of plastic that contain or represent an amount of pre-loaded value. They include a wide range of payment products, such as gift cards, payroll cards, teen cards, and travel cards. Despite significant product innovations, it is unclear whether and how existing federal and state laws that apply to other financial products (e.g., checks, credit cards, deposit accounts) apply to the different varieties of prepaid cards. Overall, the law in this area is very much unsettled. In an effort to ...
Discussion Paper
Credit card pricing developments and their disclosure
Public data, proprietary issuer data, and data collected by the author from a review of over 150 lender-borrower contracts from 15 of the largest issuers in the U.S. suggest that, over the past 10 years, credit card issuers have drastically changed the way that they price their product. This paper outlines the history and dynamics of credit card pricing over the past 10 years and examines how new pricing methods are addressed by current regulatory disclosure requirements.
Discussion Paper
Another look at credit card pricing and its disclosure: Is the semi-annual pricing data reported by credit card issuers to the Fed helpful to consumers or researchers?
Credit Card Pricing Developments and Their Disclosure,? a January 2003 Payment Cards Center Discussion Paper, examined the history and dynamics of credit card pricing and how such pricing is described to consumers in Truth in Lending solicitation disclosures. In this paper, we examine credit card pricing as revealed to consumers in a different context: that of a semiannual shopping guide that the Board of Governors publishes pursuant to the Truth in Lending Act. Specifically, we ask two questions: Are the data on credit card pricing in the guide useful to consumers? Are the data collected for ...
Discussion Paper
Consumer bankruptcy: how unsecured lenders fare
On September 8, 2003, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop on consumer bankruptcy and its effect on unsecured lenders. Professor Melissa Jacoby of Temple University?s School of Law led the workshop. A leading bankruptcy scholar, Jacoby described the current bankruptcy system and the potential impact of Chapter 7 reforms on the rights of unsecured creditors. This paper summarizes Jacoby?s presentation and the ensuing discussion. It offers a brief overview of consumer bankruptcy and the rights of unsecured creditors that lend money to ...
Discussion Paper
Prepaid cards: how do they function? how are they regulated?
This conference, sponsored by the Payment Cards Center, brought together prepaid card industry leaders and regulators to discuss how various prepaid-card systems work and the ways in which different state and federal laws can affect them. The conference featured sessions on bank- and merchant-issued gift cards, payroll cards, and flexible spending account cards. It also featured presentations by experts on Regulation E, the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, state money transmitter laws, and state abandoned property laws.
Discussion Paper
An overview of credit card asset-backed securities
Summary: On Friday, October 25, 2002, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia held a workshop that focused on credit card asset-backed securities. Mark Adelson, head of structured finance research at Nomura Securities International, led the workshop. A veteran analyst of the ABS market, Adelson has written numerous articles and special reports on securitization. During the workshop, Adelson explained the growth, pricing, and mechanics of credit card asset-backed securities. He also discussed some key issues currently facing ABS markets. This paper supplements ...
Discussion Paper
Financial privacy: perspectives from the payment cards industry
On Friday, March 21, 2003, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a one-day symposium on financial privacy entitled "Financial Privacy: Perspectives from the Payment Cards Industry." The Center invited legal scholars, federal banking regulators, and privacy officers from the largest credit card issuers and information providers in the U.S. to discuss the key privacy issues facing the industry
Discussion Paper
The debate over the National Bank Act and the preemption of state efforts to regulate credit cards
The National Bank Act (NBA), the 140- year-old statute that led to the creation of nationally chartered banks, has likely been one of the most influential forces in the formation and development of the U.S. credit card industry. The NBA gives nationally chartered banks a wide range of powers and protections. One of these protections, the ability to disregard certain state laws, is currently at the center of a very heated debate. The regulator of national banks, the OCC, recently issued a rule that interprets the act as essentially preempting most state efforts to protect credit card ...
Discussion Paper
Federal consumer protection regulation: disclosures and beyond
On June 10, 2005, the Payment Cards Center hosted a symposium entitled ?Federal Consumer Protection Regulation: Disclosures and Beyond.? The symposium brought together credit card industry leaders, legal scholars, consumer advocates, economists, and federal regulators to discuss standardized credit card disclosures and other means of protecting credit card consumers. This paper summarizes the day?s discussion and details the recommendations of symposium participants. In general, these recommendations involve (1) making specific changes to current credit card disclosures, (2) improving the ...