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.

(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 §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 §1005.20(a)(1) and (b);

(2) A store gift card as defined in §1005.20(a)(2) and (b);

(3) A loyalty, award, or promotional gift card as defined in §1005.20(a)(4), or that satisfies the criteria in §1005.20(a)(4)(i) and (ii) and is excluded from §1005.20 pursuant to §1005.20(b)(4); or

(4) A general-use prepaid card as defined in §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 §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.

(g) “Electronic fund transfer” is defined in §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.

(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.

[76 FR 81023, Dec. 27, 2011, as amended at 77 FR 6285, Feb. 7, 2012; 81 FR 84325, Nov. 22, 2016; 83 FR 6417, Feb. 13, 2018]