Urban Trust Stops Charging Overdraft Fees on Prepaid Cards

American Banker 
February 5, 2013
Cumming, Chris

Urban Trust Bank of Lake Mary, Fla., has eliminated overdraft fees on its prepaid cards, effective Feb. 1. Consumer advocates had complained that the charges were tantamount to payday loans with interest topping state caps. Indeed, the cards were sold at the outlets of payday lender CheckSmart; they offered overdraft protection for a fee of 15 cents per $1 in negative balance, a rate that exceeded limits in several states. Urban Trust said that it would continue to offer the cards but that they would no longer carry the overdraft protection. "Urban Trust Bank did the right thing and rid its prepaid cards of overdraft fees," commented Lauren Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center. "Prepaid cards should be just that: prepaid and not vehicles for evading state interest rate caps and payday laws."
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