For purposes of this regulation,
the following definitions apply:
(a) (1) Access device means
a card, code, or other means of access to a consumer’s account, or
any combination thereof, that may be used by the consumer to initiate
electronic fund transfers;
(2) An access device becomes an “accepted access device” when
the consumer—
(i) requests and receives, or signs,
or uses (or authorizes another to use) the access device to transfer
money between accounts or to obtain money, property, or services;
(ii) requests validation
of an access device issued on an unsolicited basis; or
(iii) receives an access
device in renewal of, or in substitution for, an accepted access device
from either the financial institution that initially issued the device
or a successor.
6-302
(b) (1) Account means a demand
deposit (checking), savings, or other consumer asset account (other
than an occasional or incidental credit balance in a credit plan)
held directly or indirectly by a financial institution and established
primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
(2) The term includes a “payroll
card account” which is an account that is directly or indirectly established
through an employer and to which electronic fund transfers of the
consumer’s wages, salary, or other employee compensation (such as
commissions), are made on a recurring basis, whether the account is
operated or managed by the employer, a third-party payroll processor,
a depository institution, or any other person. For rules governing
payroll card accounts, see section 205.18.
(3) The term does not include an account
held by a financial institution under a bona fide trust agreement.
(c) Act means the Electronic Fund
Transfer Act (title IX of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 USC
1693 et seq.).
(d) Business day means any
day on which the offices of the consumer’s financial institution are
open to the public for carrying on substantially all business functions.
(e) Consumer means a natural person.
(f) Credit means the right granted by a financial
institution to a consumer to defer payment of debt, incur debt and
defer its payment, or purchase property or services and defer payment
therefor.
6-303
(g) Electronic fund transfer is defined in
section 205.3.
(h) Electronic terminal means
an electronic device, other than a telephone operated by a consumer,
through which a consumer may initiate an electronic fund transfer.
The term includes, but is not limited to, point-of-sale terminals,
automated teller machines, and cash-dispensing machines.
(i) Financial institution means a bank, savings
association, credit union, or any other person that directly or indirectly
holds an account belonging to a consumer or that issues an access
device and agrees with a consumer to provide electronic fund transfer
services.
6-304
(j) Person means a natural person or an organization,
including a corporation, government agency, estate, trust, partnership,
proprietorship, cooperative, or association.
(k) Preauthorized electronic fund transfer means an electronic fund
transfer authorized in advance to recur at substantially regular intervals.
(l) State means any state, territory,
or possession of the United States; the District of Columbia; the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; or any political subdivision of the above
in this paragraph (l).
(m) Unauthorized
electronic fund transfer means an electronic fund transfer from
a consumer’s account initiated by a person other than the consumer
without actual authority to initiate the transfer and from which the
consumer receives no benefit. The term does not include an electronic
fund transfer initiated—
(1) by a person who was furnished the access
device to the consumer’s account by the consumer, unless the consumer
has notified the financial institution that transfers by that person
are no longer authorized;
(2) with fraudulent intent by the consumer or any person acting in
concert with the consumer; or
(3) by the financial institution or its
employee.
