A “bank holding company” is a company that owns, or has a controlling interest in, one or more banks. In the United States, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors is responsible for regulating and supervising bank holding companies, even if the bank owned by the holding company is under
An Automated Teller Machine (or “ATM”) is a machine that allows customers to conduct banking transactions anywhere, anytime. Many prepaid debit cards (including travel cards, teen cards, reloadable prepaid cards and non-reloadable prepaid cards) can be used at an ATM machine to access available funds (funds that were previously deposited
The “Bank Secrecy Act” is a U.S. Law that requires financial institutions to assist the U.S. Government in detecting and preventing money laundering. The full name of the Act is “The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970” (or “BSA”), and is available at: 31 U.S.C. 5311-5330 and implemented as rules
A “Charity Gift Card” is a gift card (or gift certificate, or virtual gift card) that is purchased by a “sender” or “purchaser” and given to a “recipient”. The sender or purchaser of the charity gift card buys the gift card from a gift card issuer (such as Read More
A “Card Verification Value” (or “CVV”) is an authentication number established by prepaid debit card companies to further efforts towards reducing fraud for internet transactions. Many online transactions ask for the “security code” or “CVV” code in a check out form. You can
The term “automated clearing house” (or ACH) refers to an electronic clearing and settlement system for exchanging electronic credit and debit transactions among participating depository institutions; such electronic transactions are substitutes for paper checks and are typically used to make recurring payments such as payroll or loan payments. The Federal
A “bank identification number” or “BIN” is the first 6-digits of an account number used by a prepaid debit card issuer to identify their institution. Different card networks use different BIN numbers. For example, the American Express account number range begins with “3”, the Visa account number range
An approval response is an authorization that is received by a merchant when a transaction is approved.
An “ATM card” is a type of payment card that offers a safe, convenient alternative to cash and checks. ATM cards allow you to access a linked bank account anywhere by using an ATM. The basic ATM card allows you to withdraw money directly from your checking or savings account.
The term “authorization” refers to the process of verifying with a prepaid card issuer that an account has sufficient funds available and is in good standing. When a prepaid debit card transaction is “authorized”, the available balance of the account is reduced by the authorized amount.
In some types of prepaid