Below is an excerpt of an article by IPA CEO, Brian Tate that was published in the American Banker. We invite you to click over and read the full article. 

A recent article in American Banker, “Prepaid card debacles, from BofA to the Kardashians,” paints a distorted picture of an industry that has and continues to provide value, innovation, security and efficiency to individuals, businesses and government agencies.
​
Prepaid accounts — including general-purpose reloadable prepaid cards, payroll cards, cards used to distribute government benefits, peer-to-peer products, and mobile wallets — represent some of the fastest- growing payment methods in the country. For nearly 20 years, prepaid products have brought value, innovation, security and efficiency to cardholders, employers and government agencies.
 Read the full article here. 

The entire financial-services industry shot itself in the foot with free checking.

Free checking taught customers that they should not pay any fees for the services they receive from banks and other financial companies. The attitude is, “Why should I pay to access my own money?” Since these same customers may also be some of the people who work at the regulatory agencies, it is not hard to see how this attitude would start shaping the regulatory climate.
​
On Jan. 26, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a “Request for Information Regarding Fees Imposed by Providers of Consumer Financial Products or Services.” The Bureau made up for the bland title in its press release, saying the request was the start of an “an initiative to save households billions of dollars a year by reducing exploitative junk fees charged by banks and financial companies.”

Click to read the full article.