Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 098-0545
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Public Act 098-0545


 

Public Act 0545 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
Public Act 098-0545
 
SB1829 EnrolledLRB098 09006 MGM 39141 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act is amended by
changing Section 10 and by adding Section 46 as follows:
 
    (205 ILCS 616/10)
    Sec. 10. Definitions. For purposes of this Act, the words
and phrases defined in this Section shall have the meanings
ascribed to them unless the context requires otherwise.
Whenever the terms "network" and "switch" are used, they shall
be deemed interchangeable unless, from the context and facts,
the intention is plain to apply only to one type of entity.
    "Access device" means a card, code, or other means of
access to an account, or any combination thereof, that may be
used by a customer to initiate an electronic fund transfer at a
terminal.
    "Account" means a demand deposit, savings deposit, share,
member, or other customer asset account held by a financial
institution.
    An "affiliate" of, or a person "affiliated" with, a
specified person, means a person that directly, or indirectly
through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by,
or is under common control with, the person specified.
    "Commissioner" means the Secretary of Financial and
Professional Regulation or a person authorized by the
Secretary, the Division of Banking Act, or this Act to act in
the Secretary's stead.
    "Division" means the Division of Banking within the
Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
    "Electronic fund transfer" means a transfer of funds, other
than a transaction originated by check, draft, or similar paper
instrument, that is initiated through a terminal for the
purpose of ordering, instructing, or authorizing a financial
institution to debit or credit an account.
    "Financial institution" means a bank established under the
laws of this or any other state or established under the laws
of the United States, a savings and loan association or savings
bank established under the laws of this or any other state or
established under the laws of the United States, a credit union
established under the laws of this or any other state or
established under the laws of the United States, or a licensee
under the Consumer Installment Loan Act or the Sales Finance
Agency Act.
    "General use reloadable card" means a card, code, or other
access device that is:
        (1) issued on a prepaid basis primarily for personal,
    family, or household purposes to a consumer in a specified
    amount in exchange for payment;
        (2) issued under an agreement containing terms and
    conditions that permit funds to be added to the card, code,
    or other device after the initial purchase or issuance,
    including a temporary non-reloadable card issued solely in
    connection with a general use reloadable card, code, or
    other device;
        (3) not marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift
    certificate; and
        (4) redeemable upon presentation at multiple,
    unaffiliated merchants for goods or services or usable at
    automated teller machines.
    "Interchange transaction" means an electronic fund
transfer that results in exchange of data and settlement of
funds between 2 or more unaffiliated financial institutions.
    "Issuer" means a person that issues a general use
reloadable card or that person's agent with respect to the
card.
    "Marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift certificate"
means directly or indirectly offering, advertising, or
otherwise suggesting the potential use of a card, code, or
other device as a gift for another person.
    "Network" means an electronic information communication
and processing system that processes interchange transactions.
    "Person" means a natural person, corporation, unit of
government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust,
estate, partnership, cooperative, or association.
    "Seller of goods and services" means a business entity
other than a financial institution.
    "Switch" means an electronic information and communication
processing facility that processes interchange transactions on
behalf of a network. This term does not include an electronic
information and communication processing company (1) that is
owned by a bank holding company or an affiliate of a bank
holding company and used solely for transmissions among
affiliates of the bank holding company or (2) to the extent
that the facility, by virtue of a contractual relationship, is
used solely for transmissions among affiliates of a bank
holding company, regardless of whether the facility is an
affiliate of the bank holding company or operates as a switch
with respect to one or more networks under an independent
contractual relationship.
    "Terminal" means an electronic device through which a
consumer may initiate an interchange transaction. This term
does not include (1) a telephone, (2) an electronic device
located in a personal residence, (3) a personal computer or
other electronic device used primarily for personal, family, or
household purposes, (4) an electronic device owned or operated
by a seller of goods and services unless the device is
connected either directly or indirectly to a financial
institution and is operated in a manner that provides access to
an account by means of a personal and confidential code or
other security mechanism (other than signature), (5) an
electronic device that is not accessible to persons other than
employees of a financial institution or affiliate of a
financial institution, or (6) an electronic device that is
established by a financial institution on a proprietary basis
that is identified as such and that cannot be accessed by
customers of other financial institutions. The Commissioner
may issue a written rule that excludes additional electronic
devices from the definition of the term "terminal".
(Source: P.A. 96-1365, eff. 7-28-10.)
 
    (205 ILCS 616/46 new)
    Sec. 46. Disclosure requirements for general use
reloadable cards.
    (a) The issuer of a general use reloadable card shall make
the disclosures required under this Section in accordance with
the following standards:
        (1) The disclosures shall be clear and conspicuous. The
    disclosures may contain commonly accepted or readily
    understandable abbreviations or symbols.
        (2) The disclosures required under items (1), (2), and
    (3) of subsection (b) of this Section shall be provided to
    the consumer in written or electronic form. When cards are
    sold online, the disclosures required by item (1) of
    subsection (b) of this Section must be clearly and
    conspicuously accessible on the issuer's Internet website
    prior to purchase.
        (3) For joint accounts, only one set of the required
    disclosures shall be provided and may be given to any of
    the account holders.
        (4) Issuers may design their own disclosure format,
    provided that all fees required to be disclosed under
    subsection (b) of this Section are included, the amount of
    each fee is disclosed along with the frequency at which
    each fee may be assessed, and the substance and clarity of
    the disclosures are not affected.
    (b) The issuer must make the following disclosures:
        (1) Before a general use reloadable card is purchased,
    the issuer shall disclose to the consumer the amount of
    any:
            (A) card purchase fee;
            (B) monthly maintenance fee;
            (C) cash withdrawal fee at an ATM and cash advance
        fee at retail locations;
            (D) reload fee; and
            (E) balance inquiry fee, unless disclosure of the
        balance is available to the consumer without cost via
        telephone or Internet access.
        The disclosures required in this item (1) must be made
    on the portion of the card packaging accessible to the
    consumer prior to purchase for all cards sold at retail
    locations.
        (2) The issuer shall include the following disclosures
    on the card:
            (A) the expiration date of the card, if any; and
            (B) a toll-free telephone number and, if one is
        maintained, an Internet website that a consumer may use
        to obtain information about fees and to obtain a
        replacement card after the card expires if the
        underlying funds may be available thereafter.
        (3) The issuer shall disclose with the card the amount
    of each type of fee not disclosed in item (1) of this
    subsection (b) that may be imposed in connection with the
    card after purchase (or, if variable, an explanation of how
    the fee shall be determined) and the conditions under which
    the fee may be imposed.
    (c) A card, code, or other access device is not a general
use reloadable card merely because the issuer or processor is
technically able to add functionality that would otherwise
enable the card, code, or other access device to be reloaded.
    (d) Compliance with the federal Electronic Fund Transfer
Act and any regulations issued under that Act regarding general
use reloadable card disclosures shall constitute compliance
with this Section.
    (e) The requirements of this Section shall apply to any
general use reloadable card sold to a consumer on or after
January 1, 2015.
    (f) In this Section, "card" means a general use reloadable
card.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2014.

Effective Date: 1/1/2014