Payments

Huffington Post: Check Cashers, Banks Prepare for Paperless Future

by Rachel Schneider

For many Americans, dealing with delayed and pending transactions is a costly problem. According to the a study released by the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, paper checks are becoming less practical. Customers want liquidity and instant access to their funds.

Vice President, Innovation, ...

Posted: August 2012

CFSI Comment Letter on CFPB's Prepaid Card Regulation

by Rachel Schneider

CFSI Comments On CFPB Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E)


Washington D.C., July 23, 2012
Rachel Schneider, Vice President, Innovation, Research, and Policy, submitted a letter in response to the CRPB's notice and request to comment on general purpose ...

Posted: August 2012

American Banker: Prepaid Cards Set Good Example for Simpler Disclosures

by Jennifer Tescher

Prepaid Cards Set Good Example for Simpler Disclosures

Despite all of the new powers at their disposal, regulators continue to emphasize simplified and standardized disclosure as a critical tool to ensure consumers get a fair deal.

By JENNIFER TESCHER and DAVID NEWVILLE

 

The Consumer Financial ...

Posted: March 2012

Improving Consumer Outcomes Through Better Disclosure for Prepaid Cards

by David Newville

Increasingly, underserved Americans are turning to prepaid cards to meet their basic financial services needs. Functioning much like electronic banks accounts without checks, general purpose reloadable, or GPR, prepaid cards can be used make purchases, pay bills, access cash, monitor one’s finances, ...

Posted: March 2012

American Banker: Stop Whining, Start Self-Regulating

by Jennifer Tescher

In her monthly American Banker article, President and CEO Jennifer Tescher calls out financial institutions to embrace the Compass Principles in her article Stop Whining, Start Self-Regulating. She remarks that many banks have spent their energy complaining about regulation and using this as ...

Posted: February 2012

American Banker: Why Do Prepaid Cards Have Such a Bad Rap?

by Jennifer Tescher

In this month's American Banker article CFSI President and CEO, Jennifer Tescher, reviews the crticisms against finance guru Suze Orman's Approved Card. The two main complaints have been fees and whether Orman can be trusted. Tescher walks through these concerns in plain ...

Posted: January 2012

American Banker: Direct Deposit and Rent Payments Are Areas Ripe for Tech Solutions

by

Jennifer Tescher

In this month's American Banker article, CFSI President and CEO, Jennifer Tescher, describes the struggles of cash flow and fragmentation of financial services that a typical underbanked consumer faces, specifically concerning direct deposit, check cashing and rent payment. She points out innovative products like PayPerks and Chexar, ...

Posted: December 2011

CFSI Releases Third Secured Credit Cards InBrief

by Kimberly Gartner

CFSI recognized the potential growth of the secured card market and led a consumer research study on secured card products, conducted with MasterCard and Blue Flame Consulting. CFSI created a series of inBriefs to highlight a number of key findings from the ...

Posted: February 2011

Financial First Encounters: The Fractured Financial Landscape Facing Youth Today

by Joshua Sledge

and Lead Author, Corey Stone

All kinds of organizations and institutions play influential roles in the lives of young people. This presents these organizations with an opportunity to promote the development of young peoples' financial capability. Click below to download the ...

Posted: February 2011

The Nonprofit's Guide to Prepaid

by Sarah E. Gordon

The Nonprofit’s Guide to Prepaid Cards is designed for nonprofits focused on consumer finance issues to build general awareness around prepaid cards and provide the tools and resources needed by nonprofits to start to incorporate prepaid into their programming. This guide was made possible ...

Posted: September 2010

Highlights from the 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum

by

Rachel Schneider

The Underbanked Financial Services Forum has become a bellwether for the industry serving the underbanked. Judging by this year’s Fourth Annual Forum, presented by SourceMedia with the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), the industry is strong. Despite challenging times for the ...

21 pp.   
Posted: August 2009

CFSI Underbanked Consumer Study

by Jennifer Tescher

In 2009, CFSI made available for purchase the full results of the Underbanked Consumer Study. Since then, CFSI has released limited results from the study, already recognized in more than 25 publications (see fact sheet below for a brief overview ). The ...

Posted: July 2009

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Comparison of Monthly Financial Services Spending

by

Rachel Schneider

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) has conducted an investigation into the amounts that prepaid cardholders spend each month to conduct essential financial transactions, and compared that to the amounts that they would spend if they remained underbanked or used checking ...

Posted: June 2009

A Tool for Getting by or Getting Ahead? Consumers' Views on Prepaid Cards

by

Sarah E. Gordon

Over the past decade, financial services companies have offered an increasing number of options to households who do not hold or regularly use conventional checking and savings accounts. Some options come from mainstream banks and companies, while others come from “fringe” financial ...

Posted: April 2009

Results of the NBPCA/CFSI Survey:

by Rachel Schneider

Network Branded Prepaid Card Association and CFSI release new data on prepaid card usage and underbanked consumers.  The data delivers results from a survey of 400 underbanked prepaid card users and offers information on consumer satisfaction levels, card usage, rankings of ...

Posted: April 2009