A 2024 opinion letter from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, stating that a particular earned wage advance provider, FlexWage, did not need a lender license or a money transmitter license, where it contracted directly with employers and integrated its program with the employer's payroll and other data, and the employer rather than the provider funded the advances.
In 2023, the Commissioner issued an opinion letter to SoLo Funds. The letter “takes the position that the identification of tip and donation amounts to lenders and parties such as SoLo prior to consumers being offered and receiving a loan via a platform such as the SoLo platform causes such tip and donation amounts to be ‘incident to or a condition of the extension of credit,’ therefore constituting ‘finance charges’ that must be included in the calculation of the loan’s APR pursuant to” Connecticut’s lending law.
In 2012, the OCC took a supervisory action that resulted in the elimination of two different credit features on Insight prepaid cards issued by Urban Trust Bank. The cards were being used by the payday lender CheckSmart to evade the payday loan laws of Arizona, Ohio, and other states. In one version, the consumer could opt in to overdraft coverage, resulting in “negative balance” fees on the prepaid card that effectively amounted to a $15 per $100 payday loan.
In 2012, the OCC took a supervisory action that resulted in the elimination of two different credit features on Insight prepaid cards issued by Urban Trust Bank. The cards were being used by the payday lender CheckSmart to evade the payday loan laws of Arizona, Ohio, and other states. In one version, the consumer could opt in to overdraft coverage, resulting in “negative balance” fees on the prepaid card that effectively amounted to a $15 per $100 payday loan.