Tuesday, May 5, 2009
In case you haven't heard, there's legislation pending in Washington that could cause collateral damage to the prepaid industry. It's an amendment that Senator Schumer of New York added to S. 414 that's the problem. While Schumer's amendment is likely aimed at closed-loop cards (that do not carry association brands and are only accepted at the merchant that sells the card), the impact would spill over to open-loop cards. The proposed amendment would restrict prepaid card issuers from assessing service fees and force a rolling expiration date that simply wouldn't work with the way open-loop cards are processed at the POS.
The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA), of which FSV is a member, has taken the lead in organizing an aggressive campaign to educate Senators across the country on the unintended consequences of this bill. Jon Palmer, CEO of FSV and a Member of the Board of the NBPCA, personally encouraged FSV employees to get involved in this important effort on behalf of the prepaid industry. Of the 500 letters that the NBPCA reports were sent to Senators in the last week, 10% came from the FSV team who got on board enthusiastically and sent over 50 letters to Senators in a half-dozen states. FSV also reached out to clients who would be most impacted by the proposed legislation and encouraged them to join the lobbying effort.
If you would like more information on how you can help influence Washington before the collateral damage hits prepaid, send a note to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
and we'll let you know how to help.
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