Prepaid Credit Cards Subject to New Regulation – Statement by CEI’s John Berlau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reportedly poised to impose new regulations on the prepaid card industry. John Berlau, senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, criticized this new regulatory maneuver by the CFPB. Meanwhile, CEI has a constitutional challenge to Dodd-Frank and the CFPB scheduled for a Nov. 19 hearing in federal court.

Statement by John Berlau:

“The CFPB’s rules on prepaid credit cards threaten to further limit credit options for struggling families in our economy. The reason why there are so many unbanked consumers in our economy using prepaid cards can be directly traced to Dodd-Frank provisions such as the Durbin Amendment that have decimated free checking. We need to deregulate rather than add regulation to problems caused by regulation. And the CFPB needs to be held accountable by Congress, which is what CEI’s upcoming challenge to Dodd-Frank hopes to achieve.”