Except as otherwise provided
in subpart B, for purposes of this part, 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.
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(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 does not include an account
held by a financial institution under a bona fide trust agreement.
(3) The term includes
a prepaid account.
(i) “Prepaid account” means:
(A) 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; or
(B) A “government benefit account,” as defined
in section 1005.15(a)(2); or
(C) An account that is marketed or labeled as “prepaid” and that
is redeemable upon presentation at multiple, unaffiliated merchants
for goods or services or usable at automated teller machines; or
(D) An account:
(1) That is issued on a prepaid basis
in a specified amount or not issued on a prepaid basis but capable
of being loaded with funds thereafter,
(2) Whose primary function is to conduct
transactions with multiple, unaffiliated merchants for goods or services,
or at automated teller machines, or to conduct person-to-person transfers,
and
(3) That is
not a checking account, share draft account, or negotiable order of
withdrawal account.
(ii) For purposes of paragraphs (b)(3)(i)(C)
and (D) of this section, the term “prepaid account” does not include:
(A) An account that is loaded only with funds from a health savings
account, flexible spending arrangement, medical savings account, health
reimbursement arrangement, dependent care assistance program, or transit
or parking reimbursement arrangement;
(B) An account that is directly or indirectly
established through a third party and loaded only with qualified disaster
relief payments;
(C) The
person-to-person functionality of an account established by or through
the United States government whose primary function is to conduct
closed-loop transactions on U.S. military installations or vessels,
or similar government facilities;
(D)
(1) A gift certificate as defined in section 1005.20(a)(1)
and (b);
(2) A
store gift card as defined in section 1005.20(a)(2) and (b);
(3) A loyalty, award,
or promotional gift card as defined in section 1005.20(a)(4), or that
satisfies the criteria in section 1005.20(a)(4)(i) and (ii) and is
excluded from section 1005.20 pursuant to section 1005.20(b)(4); or
(4) A general-use prepaid
card as defined in section 1005.20(a)(3) and (b) that is both marketed
and labeled as a gift card or gift certificate; or
(E) An account established
for distributing needs-tested benefits in a program established under
state or local law or administered by a state or local agency, as
set forth in section 1005.15(a)(2).
(c) “Act” means the Electronic Fund Transfer
Act (Title IX of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. 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.
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(g) “Electronic fund transfer” is defined in section 1005.3.
(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
(ATMs), 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, other than a person
excluded from coverage of this part by section 1029 of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010, Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law 111-203, 124 Stat.
1376.
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(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 thereof 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.
