§ 205.2 - Definitions.

§ 205.2 Definitions.

For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:

(a)

(1) Access device means a card, code, or other means of access to a consumer's account, or any combination thereof, that may be used by the consumer to initiate electronic fund transfers.

(2) An access device becomes an accepted access device when the consumer:

(i) Requests and receives, or signs, or uses (or authorizes another to use) the access device to transfer money between accounts or to obtain money, property, or services;

(ii) Requests validation of an access device issued on an unsolicited basis; or

(iii) Receives an access device in renewal of, or in substitution for, an accepted access device from either the financial institution that initially issued the device or a successor.

(b)

(1) Account means a demand deposit (checking), savings, or other consumer asset account (other than an occasional or incidental credit balance in a credit plan) held directly or indirectly by a financial institution and established primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

(2) The term includes a “payroll card account” which is an account that is directly or indirectly established through an employer and to which electronic fund transfers of the consumer's wages, salary, or other employee compensation (such as commissions), are made on a recurring basis, whether the account is operated or managed by the employer, a third-party payroll processor, a depository institution or any other person. For rules governing payroll card accounts, see § 205.18.

(3) The term does not include an account held by a financial institution under a bona fide trust agreement.

(c) Act means the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (title IX of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq.).

(d) Business day means any day on which the offices of the consumer's financial institution are open to the public for carrying on substantially all business functions.

(e) Consumer means a natural person.

(f) Credit means the right granted by a financial institution to a consumer to defer payment of debt, incur debt and defer its payment, or purchase property or services and defer payment therefor.

(g) Electronic fund transfer is defined in § 205.3.

(h) Electronic terminal means an electronic device, other than a telephone operated by a consumer, through which a consumer may initiate an electronic fund transfer. The term includes, but is not limited to, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, and cash dispensing machines.

(i) Financial institution means a bank, savings association, credit union, or any other person that directly or indirectly holds an account belonging to a consumer, or that issues an access device and agrees with a consumer to provide electronic fund transfer services.

(j) Person means a natural person or an organization, including a corporation, government agency, estate, trust, partnership, proprietorship, cooperative, or association.

(k) Preauthorized electronic fund transfer means an electronic fund transfer authorized in advance to recur at substantially regular intervals.

(l) State means any state, territory, or possession of the United States; the District of Columbia; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; or any political subdivision of the above in this paragraph (l).

(m) Unauthorized electronic fund transfer means an electronic fund transfer from a consumer's account initiated by a person other than the consumer without actual authority to initiate the transfer and from which the consumer receives no benefit. The term does not include an electronic fund transfer initiated:

(1) By a person who was furnished the access device to the consumer's account by the consumer, unless the consumer has notified the financial institution that transfers by that person are no longer authorized;

(2) With fraudulent intent by the consumer or any person acting in concert with the consumer; or

(3) By the financial institution or its employee.

[Reg. E, 61 FR 19669, May 2, 1996, as amended at 71 FR 1481, Jan. 10, 2006; 71 FR 51449, Aug. 30, 2006]