On February 1, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered payment card companies MasterCard and
UniRush to pay $10 million in restitution and a $3 million fine
related to service breakdowns that left customers unable to access
their funds. "MasterCard and UniRush's failures cut off
tens of thousands of vulnerable consumers from their own money, and
threw some into a personal financial crisis," said CFPB
Director Richard Cordray. "The companies must set things right
for consumers and make sure such devastating service disruptions
are not repeated."
UniRush is the program manager for RushCard, a reloadable
prepaid debit card, which many consumers use for government
benefits or payroll deposits. In 2014, UniRush decided to switch
payment processors to MasterCard, and the parties spent thirteen
months preparing for the service transfer. The switch occurred in
mid-October 2015, when RushCard had approximately 650,000 active
users. However, there were a number of
