Issuer survey

Card Issuer Survey Instructions
FR 3062
These are instructions for the Card Issuer Survey (“the survey”), which has been sent by the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“the Board”) to your organization.
We would appreciate your participation in this important survey designed to assist the Board in
implementing new rules relating to interchange fees required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act (the Act). 1 This survey will help the Board obtain information about the
processing costs, fraud losses and fraud-prevention costs, and network routing and exclusivity
arrangements associated with debit card transactions.
Section 1075 of the Act directs the Board to establish standards restricting the level of interchange fees
for certain debit card (including prepaid card) transactions to an amount that is “reasonable and
proportional” to the cost incurred by the issuer with respect to that transaction. In addition, the Act
requires the Board to issue rules that prohibit issuers and payment card networks from requiring that a
particular debit card transaction be processed on only one payment card network and from limiting the
ability of merchants to direct the routing of debit card transactions.
As input to the development of the Board’s proposed rules, the information requested in this
survey is broad to provide the Board with a greater perspective on the debit card industry. You
should not infer, from the information requested, any particular policy direction of the Board as it
develops its proposed regulations implementing the interchange provisions of the Act.
Your organization has also received an encrypted spreadsheet that contains the survey, as well as a
passcode (via a separate email) required to open the spreadsheet. This passcode will ensure that your
response is encrypted when you return the survey to the Board. In order to complete the survey, you
must be running Microsoft Excel version 2007 or 2010 and must provide the passcode when opening the
spreadsheet. No action is required to encrypt the survey when saving the file. Please complete the
survey and send it as an attachment to Interchange.Survey@frb.gov within 30 days of the date of
the transmittal letter.
The survey contains seven sections and a response form, provided as separate tabs in the spreadsheet.
Please carefully read the instructions including the scope and reporting period applicable for each
section. Please complete all sections of the survey. Do not leave any cells in the survey blank (other
than unused comment fields). If a response to a particular cell does not exist, enter a 0. If a
response to a particular cell cannot be determined, enter DK for “don’t know.” In cases where DK
is entered, please provide an explanation in the associated comment field. We will review the submitted
surveys for logical consistency and to identify potential inaccuracies with respect to reported items. We
may contact the point-of-contact identified in your survey response if we need to confirm or revise a
reported item, or need further explanation.
1

The Act, Pub. L. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376, was enacted on July 21, 2010.

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Your organization has also received a list of depository institution affiliates. We would prefer a
combined survey response for those affiliates that issue debit and/or prepaid cards. If any of your
affiliates have materially separate card operations from other affiliates, you may submit an individual
survey response for each of those affiliates. Regardless of whether you submit combined or separate
responses for your affiliates, all of your affiliates that issue debit and/or prepaid cards should be
included in a survey response.
In the “Response form” section in the first tab of the survey worksheet, list the depository institution
affiliates for a particular survey response. The names of affiliates on a particular survey should be
consistent with the names in the list of your affiliates or any revisions to that list that your organization
has provided. In the response form, please provide the designated point-of-contact for your
organization’s overall response. Please also include the Unique Identifier assigned to your institution
(provided in the cover letter to the survey).
Throughout the remainder of these instructions, “your organization” refers to the depository institution
affiliate or affiliates for a particular survey response. The term “United States” refers to the States,
territories, or possessions of the United States, or any political subdivision of any of the foregoing.
If you have questions or difficulties with the survey, including questions about the passcode, survey
encryption, or survey submission, Board staff can assist you. Please call Jennifer Davidson at 202-4522446 or email Interchange.Survey@frb.gov for assistance. Provide your name, organization, and
contact information along with your inquiry when you call or email. If we receive a substantial number
of questions that are similar in nature, we will address these frequently asked questions (FAQs) and post
the list to the Regulatory Reform section of the Board’s public website
(http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/reform_about.htm).

Reporting burden and confidentiality
The Federal Reserve Board regards the individual organization information provided by each respondent
as confidential (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)). The Board, however, may publish aggregate or summary
information in a way that does not reveal your individual organization’s confidential information. If it
should be determined subsequently that any information collected on this form must be released, the
respondents will be notified.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to be 250 hours per response,
including the time to gather data in the required form and to review instructions and complete the
information collection. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden to: Secretary, Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20551, or via
email to regs.comments@frb.gov; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction
Project (XXXX-XXXX), Washington, D.C. 20503. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or sponsor,
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and an organization (or a person) is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control number.

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Section I: Card program information
Reporting period: Unless instructed otherwise, report data as of year-end 2009.
Scope: Report data for accounts and cards associated with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by
consumer, business, or government customers. Do not include data from affiliates or branches located
outside the United States.
Card program (column) definitions: Report data in each column for accounts and cards that are
associated with the following types of card programs:
(1) Debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account that may be used for point-of-sale or
other purchase transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device. Do not
include accounts and cards that do not support point-of-sale or other purchase transactions (e.g.,
accounts with cards that can only access ATM networks).
(2) Prepaid – Access to prepaid funds held in an account that may be used for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a prepaid card, payment code, or other device. Include
information for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards and for government and
non-government prepaid programs. For purposes of prepaid card programs set up with an
omnibus account, an account refers to each sub-account for each cardholder and not to the
omnibus account in which funds for each of the sub-accounts are kept.
Accounts and card category (row) definitions:
I.A. Number of accounts: Total accounts
The total number of open, in-scope accounts for which a card that may be used for point-of-sale
or other purchase transactions has been issued. Count a single account with multiple cards as
one account. Count multiple accounts associated with a single card as a single account.
I.A.1. Annual average
The average number of open, in-scope accounts for 2009 for which a card that may be
used for point-of-sale or other purchase transactions has been issued. Compute as the
sum of the number of such accounts at the end of each month divided by twelve. Count a
single account with multiple cards as one account. Count multiple accounts associated
with a single card as a single account.
I.A.2. Number of accounts by customer type: Consumer
The number of total accounts (from I.A.) that your organization categorizes as consumer
accounts.

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I.A.3. Number of accounts by customer type: Business
The number of total accounts (from I.A.) that your organization categorizes as business
or commercial accounts.
I.A.4. Number of accounts by customer type: Other
The number of total accounts (from I.A.) that are not consumer or business accounts.
I.B. Number of cards: Total cards
The total number of in-scope cards that are issued for open accounts and may be used for
point-of-sale or other purchase transactions. For a single account with multiple cards, count all
cards associated with that account.
I.B.1. Annual average
The average number of in-scope cards for 2009 that are issued for open accounts and may
be used for point-of-sale or other purchase transactions. Compute as the sum of the
number of such cards at the end of each month divided by twelve. For a single account
with multiple cards, count all cards associated with that account.
I.B.2. Active
The number of total cards (from I.B.) with at least one point-of-sale or other purchase
transaction during the last 30 days of 2009.
I.B.2.a. Annual average
The average number of active cards for 2009. Compute as the sum of the number
of such cards at the end of each month divided by twelve. At the end of each
month, an active card is a card that had at least one point-of-sale or other purchase
transaction during the preceding 30 days or previous calendar month.
I.B.3. Issued during year
The number of total cards (from I.B.) issued during 2009. Include both newly issued
cards and cards reissued to replace existing cards.
I.B.3.a. Newly issued
The number of issued cards (from I.B.3.) that were newly issued during 2009. Do
not include cards that were reissued to replace existing cards.

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I.B.3.b. Reissued
The number of issued cards (from I.B.3.) that were reissued to replace existing
cards during 2009 for any reason.
I.B.3.b.i. Compromised cards
The number of reissued cards (from I.B.3.b.) that were reissued due to
fraudulent transactions, lost or stolen cards, or suspected or confirmed
compromise of cardholder account or card information.
I.B.3.b.ii. Other reissued cards
The number of reissued cards (from I.B.3.b.) that were not reissued due to
card compromise, such as cards reissued due to damage or as a result of
the normal issuance cycle.
I.B.4. Respondent cards
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that your institution issued or serviced as part of a
relationship with a respondent depository institution, such as white label cards issued on
behalf of such depository institutions.
I.B.5. Number of cards by network access: Signature and PIN
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that allow a cardholder to perform point-of-sale or
other purchase transactions over both a single signature network and at least one PIN
network. Do not include ATM-only networks as PIN networks.
I.B.5.a. One PIN network, affiliated
The number of signature and PIN cards (from I.B.5.) that allow a cardholder to
perform point-of-sale or other purchase transactions over a single signature
network and a single PIN network affiliated with the signature network.
Examples of affiliated PIN and signature networks include Maestro and
MasterCard, or Interlink and Visa.
I.B.5.b. One PIN network, unaffiliated
The number of signature and PIN cards (from I.B.5.) that allow a cardholder to
perform point-of-sale or other purchase transactions over a single signature
network and a single PIN network unaffiliated with the signature network.

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I.B.5.c. Two or more PIN networks
The number of signature and PIN cards (from I.B.5.) that allow a cardholder to
perform point-of-sale or other purchase transactions over a single signature
network and two or more PIN networks.
I.B.6. Number of cards by network access: PIN only
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that allow a cardholder to perform point-of-sale or
other purchase transactions over at least one PIN network and no signature network. Do
not include ATM-only networks as PIN networks.
I.B.6.a. One PIN network
The number of PIN-only cards (from I.B.6.) that allow a cardholder to perform
point-of-sale or other purchase transactions over only a single PIN network.
I.B.6.b. Two or more PIN networks
The number of PIN-only cards (from I.B.6.) that allow a cardholder to perform
point-of-sale or other purchase transactions over two or more PIN networks.
I.B.7. Number of cards by network access: Signature only
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that allow a cardholder to perform point-of-sale or
other purchase transactions over a single signature network and no PIN network. Do not
consider ATM-only networks to be PIN networks.
I.B.8. Number of cards by network access: Multiple signature networks
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that allow a cardholder to perform point-of-sale or
other purchase transactions over multiple signature networks, regardless of the number of
PIN networks available for a transaction.
I.B.9. Number of cards by program type: Government program
The number of total cards (from I.B.) that your organization has issued pursuant to a
Federal, State, or local government-administered payment program, in which the
cardholder may only use the card to transfer or debit funds, monetary value, or other
assets that have been provided pursuant to such program. Include non-needs-tested
benefits cards (such as unemployment and child support cards) and needs-tested
electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards (such as to deliver Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) benefits). Include government payroll cards. Do not include cards that can only
be used for ATM withdrawals.

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I.B.10. Number of cards by program type: Non-government program (prepaid only)
The number of total prepaid cards (from I.B.) that your organization has issued that are
not government program prepaid cards (as reported in I.B.9.) and are redeemable at
multiple unaffiliated merchants or service providers. Include both reloadable and nonreloadable prepaid cards.
I.B.10.a. Reloadable
The number of non-government program prepaid cards (from I.B.10.) that your
organization has issued that are reloadable.
I.B.10.a.i. Gift
The number of non-government program, reloadable prepaid cards (from
I.B.10.a.) that are marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift certificate.
I.B.10.a.ii. Non-gift
The number of non-government program, reloadable prepaid cards (from
I.B.10.a.) that are not marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift certificate.
I.B.10.b. Non-reloadable
The number of non-government program prepaid cards (from I.B.10.) that your
organization has issued that are not reloadable.
I.B.11. Number of cards by customer type: Consumer
The number of total cards (from I.B.) issued for accounts that your organization
categorizes as consumer accounts (as reported in I.A.2.).
I.B.12. Number of cards by customer type: Business
The number of total cards (from I.B.) issued for accounts that your organization
categorizes as business or commercial accounts (as reported in I.A.3.).
I.B.13. Number of cards by customer type: Other
The number of total cards (from I.B.) issued for accounts that are not consumer or
business accounts (as reported in I.A.4.).

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Section II: Card program activity
Reporting period: Report data for calendar year 2009.
Scope: Report data on transactions for cards associated with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by
consumer, business, or government customers. Include both domestic and international transactions.
Do not include data from affiliates or branches located outside the United States.
General instructions:
•

Round any value to the nearest dollar. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

Card program (column) definitions: Report data in each column corresponding to transactions on the
following types of card programs:
(1) Signature debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which the
access is not authorized through the use of a PIN.
(2) PIN debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other purchase
transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which the access is
authorized through the use of a PIN. Do not include transactions for cards that do not support
point-of-sale or other purchase transactions (e.g., accounts with cards that can only access ATM
networks).
(3) Prepaid – Access to prepaid funds held in an account that may be used for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a prepaid card, payment code, or other device. Include
information for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards and for government and nongovernment prepaid programs. For purposes of prepaid card programs set up with an omnibus
account, an account refers to each sub-account for each cardholder and not to the omnibus
account in which funds for each of the sub-accounts are kept.
Activity category (row) definitions:
II.A. Purchases and returns: Total transactions
The total number and value of in-scope transactions that involved a transfer of value between a
cardholder and a merchant. Include both purchase transactions in which value was transferred
from the cardholder to the merchant in exchange for goods and services and return transactions
in which value was transferred from the merchant to the cardholder. Do not include chargebacks
or any event in which value was not transferred between a cardholder and a merchant, such as
denials, errors, or authorizations that did not clear or were not presented for settlement. For
prepaid cards, do not include funds loads to cards.
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II.A.1. Transactions with cash-back
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which the network reports to you
that the merchant gave part of the point-of-sale purchase value to the cardholder as cash.
Include both the purchase and cash-back amounts in the value.
II.A.1.a. Cash-back amount
The total value of cash given by merchants to cardholders in cash-back
transactions.
II.A.2. Transaction environment: Card-present
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which the card was physically
present at the time of purchase (in-person or automated kiosk transactions).
II.A.3.Transaction environment: Card-not-present
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which the card was not physically
present at the time of purchase (e.g., mail order, Internet, or telephone transactions).
II.A.4. Transaction type: Purchase
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which value was transferred from
the cardholder to the merchant in exchange for goods or services.
II.A.5. Transaction type: Return
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) initiated by the merchant in which
value was transferred from the merchant to the cardholder following a return of goods, a
refund for services, or a correction of the cardholder’s purchase amount.
II.A.6. Transaction location: Domestic
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which the merchant was located in
the United States.
II.A.7. Transaction location: International
The number and value of transactions (from II.A.) in which the merchant was located
outside the United States.
II.B. Chargebacks and other errors: Total chargebacks and other errors
The total number and value of transactions that your organization returned to an acquirer through
a chargeback procedure and other transactions that your organization determined were in error
but did not return to an acquirer through a chargeback procedure.
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II.B.1. Chargebacks
The total number and value of transactions (from II.B.) that your organization returned to
an acquirer through a chargeback procedure. Include all chargebacks prior to
representment by an acquirer.
II.B.1.a. Unauthorized transactions
The total number and value of transactions that your organization returned to an
acquirer through a chargeback procedure (from II.B.1.) because the cardholder
either did not authorize or did not remember authorizing a transaction or
transaction amount. Include all chargebacks prior to representment by an
acquirer.
II.B.1.a.i. Representments
The total number and value of chargebacks for unauthorized transactions
(from I.B.1.a.) that were represented by an acquirer.
II.B.1.b. Other
The total number and value of transactions that your organization returned to an
acquirer through a chargeback procedure (from II.B.1.) for reasons other than
unauthorized transactions. Include all chargebacks prior to representment by an
acquirer.
II.B.1.b.i. Representments
The total number and value of other chargebacks (from II.B.1.b.) that were
represented by an acquirer.
II.B.2.Errors not charged back
The total number and value of transactions (from II.B.) that your organization determined
were in error but did not return to an acquirer through a chargeback procedure.
II.B.2.a. Unauthorized transactions
The total number and value of transactions that your organization did not return to
an acquirer through a chargeback procedure (from II.B.2.) in which the cardholder
either did not authorize or did not remember authorizing a transaction or
transaction amount.

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II.B.2.b. Other
The total number and value of transactions that your organization did not return to
an acquirer through a chargeback procedure (from II.B.2.) but that your
organization determined involved errors other than unauthorized transactions.
II.C. Other activity: Authorizations without value transfer
The number of transaction authorizations that did not clear or were not presented for settlement.
Do not include denials or errors.
II.D. Other activity: Denials
The number of transaction authorization requests declined.
II.E. Other activity: Funds loads to cards (prepaid only)
The number and value of transactions in which funds were loaded to a prepaid card. Include
both initial loads and reloads of funds.
II.F. Other activity: ATM transactions
Report the total number of the following ATM transactions: cash withdrawals, account transfers,
account balance inquiries, and other activities that involve a verification of account balance. Do
not include check or cash deposits. Do not include ATM transactions for cards that do not
support point-of-sale or other purchase transactions (e.g., cards that can only access ATM
networks).
II.G. Revenue: Interchange
The total value of interchange revenue received. Report interchange revenue before any
deductions due to rewards costs, affinity partner revenue-sharing, or other adjustments. Do not
include interchange received or paid for ATM transactions.
Note: If your organization is also a card network such that your organization did not have
interchange revenue, report total fees charged to merchants. Further, in the comment field,
provide the percentage of total fees reported that were assessed on a per-transaction basis and the
percentage that were not assessed on a per-transaction basis. These percentages should total to
100 percent.
II.H. Revenue: Card-related transaction fees

The total value of fees assessed to cardholders for routine card transactions. Include fees
associated with point-of-sale transactions and for loading and reloading funds to prepaid cards.
Do not include ATM fees, penalty fees (as reported in II.I), or other cardholder fees (as reported
in II.J.).
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II.I. Revenue: Penalty fees
The total value of any fees or charges imposed for violating the terms or other requirements of an
asset or prepaid account in connection with processing a transaction an accountholder has
requested or initiated. Include overdraft or insufficient funds fees, declined transaction fees,
unavailable or uncollected funds fees, and fees for exceeding transaction limits. Do not include
ATM fees, card-related transaction fees (as reported in II.H.), or other cardholder fees (as
reported in II.J.).
II.J. Revenue: Other cardholder fees
The total value of all other fees charged to cardholders for the use of a card, such as annual or
monthly fees, reward program fees, balance inquiry or other card account servicing fees, any
initial set-up or activation fees, and any other periodic fees associated with a cardholder’s
account. Do not include ATM fees, card-related transaction fees (as reported in II.H.), or penalty
fees (as reported in II.I.).

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Section III: Processing costs
Reporting period: Report data for calendar year 2009.
Scope: Report data for costs incurred by your organization in its role as issuer for transactions
associated with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by consumer, business, or government customers.
Include both domestic and international transactions. Do not include data from affiliates or branches
located outside the United States.
General instructions:
•
•

•

•

•

•
•
•

•

Report total costs for each cost category, not per unit or per transaction costs.
For capital expenditures, report costs depreciated or amortized during 2009. Report the amount
of such expenditures and the depreciation/amortization approach (e.g., straight-line over five
years) in the associated comment field for a response.
Report fully-allocated costs for each card program category (column) including costs attributable
to a single card program and costs shared with other card programs or activities that are allocated
to card program categories.
Costs shared with other card programs or activities should be allocated to each card category
based on the number of transactions.
o For example, if your institution has shared costs for signature and PIN debit operations,
allocate those costs to signature debit based on the proportion of signature debit
transactions to total debit transactions.
o If your institution has shared costs for debit, prepaid, and/or credit card operations, first
allocate those costs to debit card operations based on the proportion of debit transactions
to total relevant card transactions. Then allocate the costs for debit card operations to
signature and PIN debit operations as described above.
o If you allocate shared costs, provide a description of such costs in the associated
comment field for a response. Include the activities for which costs are jointly shared and
the total amount of such costs.
Do not allocate corporate overhead costs to card program categories (columns). Do not
allocate other overhead costs to card programs except insofar as that overhead is directly
related to activity in a card program.
Do not double count costs across card program categories (columns).
Do not include any costs reported in sections IV or V.
If your organization is unable to report activity categories (rows) broken down as indicated in the
survey, enter DK for “don’t know” in the subcategories and enter aggregate values in the “total”
area for each category.
Round any value to the nearest dollar. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

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Card program (column) definitions: Report data in each column corresponding to the cost of
processing transactions on the following types of card programs:
(1) Signature debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access
is not authorized through use of a PIN.
(2) PIN debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other purchase
transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access is
authorized through use of a PIN. Do not include accounts and cards that do not support point-ofsale or other purchase transactions (e.g., accounts with cards that can only access ATM
networks).
(3) Prepaid – Access to prepaid funds held in an account that may be used for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a prepaid card, payment code, or other device. Include
information for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards and for government and nongovernment prepaid programs. For purposes of prepaid card programs set up with an omnibus
account, an account refers to each sub-account for each cardholder and not to the omnibus
account in which funds for each of the sub-accounts are kept.
Activity category (row) definitions:
General definitions:
The following definitions apply throughout the activity categories:
•

•

Third-party fees – Payments by your organization to external service providers for processing
activities that are performed by those service providers on behalf of your organization. Service
providers may include card networks or affiliates of card networks to the extent that your
organization contracts with such parties for provision of optional services related to transaction
processing. Do not include switch fees or other fees charged by a card network for services
that are required for the processing of transactions.
o Fixed third-party fees – Fees for third-party services that do not vary with changes in the
number or value of transactions over the course of the reporting period, such as service
subscription fees.
o Variable third-party fees – Fees for third-party services that directly vary with the number
or value of transactions.
In-house costs – Costs incurred for processing activities that are not outsourced to third parties.
o Fixed costs – Costs that do not vary with changes in the number or value of transactions
over the course of the reporting period. For example, the cost of connectivity typically
would be a fixed cost over the course of the reporting period.

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•

o Variable costs – Costs that directly vary with the number or value of transactions. For
example, the cost of processing transactions through a data processing center typically
would be a variable cost.
Network fees – Total switch fees or other fees charged by card networks for services that are
required for the processing of transactions. Do not include any fees for optional services related
to transaction processing that may be provided by a card network or an affiliate of a card
network. Do not include any network fees that are not directly linked to the processing of
transactions, such as membership or license fees.

III.A. All processing activity: Total processing costs
Total costs associated with processing purchase and return transactions, chargebacks and errors,
authorizations without value transfer, denials, and funds loads to cards (as reported in II.A. –
II.E.). Include network fees and the cost of authorization, interbank clearing and settlement, and
cardholder account posting (as defined in III.A.4.d. – III.A.4.f.).
Report in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable) fees, and network fees as
indicated. For treatment of in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable) fees, and
network fees, refer to the general definitions at the beginning of this section.
III.A.4. Routine transaction processing: Total processing costs
The amount of total costs (from III.A.) associated with processing purchase and return
transactions, authorizations without value transfer, denials, and funds loads to cards (as
reported in II.A. and II.C. – II.E.). Include network fees and the cost of authorization,
interbank clearing and settlement, and cardholder account posting (as defined in III.A.4.d.
– III.A.4.f.). Do not include any costs associated with chargebacks or errors (as reported
in II.B.).
Report in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable) fees, and network fees
as indicated. For treatment of in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable)
fees, and network fees, refer to the general definitions at the beginning of this section.
III.A.4.d. Authorization: Total costs
The amount of total costs for routine transactions (from III.A.4.) associated with
providing authorization for transactions including data processing, connectivity
expenses, voice authorization inquiries, and referral inquiries. Do not include
network fees. Report in-house costs and third-party fees as indicated.
III.A.4.e. Interbank clearing and settlement: Total costs
The amount of total costs for routine transactions (from III.A.4.) associated with
receiving, verifying, reconciling, and settling transactions with other financial
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institutions. Do not include costs associated with posting to cardholders’
accounts. For PIN-debit transactions, where transaction authorization and
clearing are combined in the same message, report the clearing costs under the
authorization category. Do not include network fees, connectivity expenses or
any other costs reported in III.A.4.d. Report in-house costs and third-party fees as
indicated.
III.A.4.f. Cardholder account posting: Total costs
The amount of total costs for routine transactions (from III.A.4.) associated with
posting transactions to cardholders’ accounts. Do not include costs associated
with interbank clearing and settlement. Do not include network fees. Report
in-house costs and third-party fees as indicated.
III.A.5. Chargeback and error processing: Total processing costs
The amount of total costs (from III.A.) associated with processing transactions that your
organization returned to an acquirer through a chargeback procedure (as reported in
II.B.1) and other transactions that your organization determined were in error but that
were not returned to an acquirer through a chargeback procedure (as reported in II.B.2.).
Report in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable) fees, and network fees
as indicated. For treatment of in-house (fixed/variable) costs, third-party (fixed/variable)
fees, and network fees, refer to the general definitions at the beginning of this section.

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Section IV: Card program costs
Reporting period: Report data for calendar year 2009.
Scope: Report data for costs incurred by your organization in its role as issuer for activity associated
with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by consumer, business, or government customers. Do not
include data from affiliates or branches located outside the United States.
General instructions:
•
•

•

•

•

•
•
•
•

Report total costs for each cost category, not per unit or per transaction costs.
For capital expenditures, report costs depreciated or amortized during 2009. Report the amount
of such expenditures and the depreciation/amortization approach (e.g., straight-line over five
years) in the associated comment field for a response.
Report fully-allocated costs for each card program category (column) including costs attributable
to a single card program and costs shared with other card programs or activities that are allocated
to card program categories.
Costs shared with other card programs or activities should be allocated to each card category
based on the number of transactions or other appropriate activity-based measures.
o For example, if your institution has shared costs for signature and PIN debit operations,
allocate those costs to signature debit based on the proportion of signature debit
transactions to total debit transactions.
o If your institution has shared costs for debit, prepaid, and/or credit card operations, first
allocate those costs to debit card operations based on the proportion of debit transactions
to total relevant card transactions. Then allocate the costs for debit card operations to
signature and PIN debit operations as described above.
o For activities such as call center servicing, if the number of transactions is not an
appropriate basis for cost allocation, allocate shared costs using an appropriate activitybased measure such as time of activity dedicated to each card program.
o If you allocate shared costs, provide a description of such costs in the associated
comment field for a response. Include the activities for which costs are jointly shared,
the total amount of such costs, and the allocation method if it is not based on the number
of transactions.
Do not allocate corporate overhead costs to card program categories (columns). Do not
allocate other overhead costs to card programs except insofar as that overhead is directly
related to activity in a card program.
Do not double count costs across card program categories (columns).
Do not double count costs across activity categories (rows).
Do not include any costs reported in sections III or V.
Round any value to the nearest dollar. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

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Card program (column) definitions: Report data in each column corresponding to costs of the
following types of card programs:
(1) Signature debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access
is not authorized through use of a PIN.
(2) PIN debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other purchase
transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access is
authorized through use of a PIN. Do not include accounts and cards that do not support point-ofsale or other purchase transactions (e.g., accounts with cards that can only access ATM
networks).
(3) Prepaid – Access to prepaid funds held in an account that may be used for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a prepaid card, payment code, or other device. Include
information for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards and for government and nongovernment prepaid programs. For purposes of prepaid card programs set up with an omnibus
account, an account refers to each sub-account for each cardholder and not to the omnibus
account in which funds for each of the sub-accounts are kept.
Activity category (row) definitions:
General definitions:
The following definitions apply throughout the activity categories:
•

•

Third-party fees – Payments by your organization to external service providers for card program
activities that are performed by those service providers on behalf of your organization. Service
providers may include card networks or affiliates of card networks to the extent that your
organization contracts with such parties for provision of optional services related to card
programs.
In-house costs – Costs incurred for card program activities that are not outsourced to third
parties.

IV.A. Card production and delivery: Total costs
Total costs associated with producing and delivering cards to cardholders. Include costs for
issuance of cards to new cardholders and reissuance of cards to existing cardholders. Report
in-house costs and third-party fees as indicated.

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IV.B. Cardholder inquiries: Total costs
Total costs associated with cardholder inquiries about card transaction activity. Include inquiries
associated with replacement cards, fee waivers, transaction details, transaction fees, cardholder
disputes, and other issues related to card transaction activity. Do not include costs of chargeback
processes that result from cardholder inquiries. Report in-house costs and third-party fees as
indicated.
IV.C. Rewards and other incentives: Total costs
Total costs associated with cardholder reward programs or other incentive payment programs
that result from activity of your card programs. Include costs of program administration,
rewards, and affinity partner revenue-sharing.
IV.C.1. Program administration
The amount of total costs (from IV.C.) attributable to administration of rewards or other
incentive programs.
IV.C.2. Rewards
The amount of total costs (from IV.C.) reflecting rewards earned by cardholders during
2009. Include all rewards earned for activity in 2009, even if those rewards were not paid
in 2009.
III.C.3. Affinity partner revenue-sharing
The amount of total costs (from IV.C.) associated with any fees or payments to external
partners with which your institution has a revenue-sharing arrangement in which your
institution has agreed to pay some amount that depends on the amount or value of
transaction activity. Include any interchange offsets or other revenue offsets that reflect
such revenue-sharing arrangements. Include any amount shared with distribution or
marketing partners.
IV.D. Network fees: Total non-transaction-processing fees
Total fees charged by card networks that are not associated with transaction processing, such as
membership or license fees. Do not include any network fees reported in section III.
IV.E. Research and development: Total costs
Total costs of research and development for card programs including activities related to product
enhancements, process improvements, product development, and testing. Do not include any
research and development costs associated with fraud prevention activities reported in section V.

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IV.F. Nonsufficient funds handling costs: Total costs
Total costs of handling nonsufficient funds events resulting from an account having insufficient
funds to settle an authorized debit card transaction between the time of authorization of a
transaction and settlement of that transaction. Include customer service costs, costs of collection
activities, and costs of reporting the account to credit agencies. Include any fees paid to third
parties for such activities. Do not include the amount of or losses from such transactions.
IV.G. Compliance: Total costs
The total costs of compliance with Federal, State, or local regulations applicable to debit and/or
prepaid cards. Do not include compliance costs that are required of the issuer but are not tied to
provision of a card product, such as compliance with AML/BSA regulations.

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Section V: Fraud prevention activity costs and data security costs
Reporting period: Report data for calendar year 2009.
Scope: Report data for costs incurred by your organization for fraud prevention activities and data
security associated with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by consumer, business, or government
customers. Do not include data from affiliates or branches located outside the United States.
General instructions:
•
•

•

•

•

•
•
•
•

Report total costs for each cost category, not per unit or per transaction costs.
For capital expenditures, report costs depreciated or amortized during 2009. Report the amount
of such expenditures and the depreciation/amortization approach (e.g., straight-line over five
years) in the associated comment field for a response.
Report fully-allocated costs for each card program category (column) including costs attributable
to a single card program and costs shared with other card programs or activities that are allocated
to card program categories.
Costs shared with other card programs or activities should be allocated to each card category
based on the number of transactions or other appropriate activity-based measures.
o For example, if your institution has shared costs for signature and PIN debit operations,
allocate those costs to signature debit based on the proportion of signature debit
transactions to total debit transactions.
o If your institution has shared costs for debit, prepaid, and/or credit card operations, first
allocate those costs to debit card operations based on the proportion of debit transactions
to total relevant card transactions. Then allocate the costs for debit card operations to
signature and PIN debit operations as described above.
o If you allocate shared costs, provide a description of such costs in the associated
comment field for a response. Include the activities for which costs are jointly shared,
the total amount of such costs, and the allocation method if it is not based on the number
of transactions.
Do not allocate corporate overhead costs to card program categories (columns). Do not
allocate other overhead costs to card programs except insofar as that overhead is directly
related to activity in a card program.
Do not double count costs across card program categories (columns).
Do not double count costs across activity categories (rows).
Do not include any costs reported in sections III or IV.
Round any value to the nearest dollar. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

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Card program category (column) definitions: Report data corresponding to fraud prevention activity
and data security associated with the following card programs:
(1) Signature debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access
is not authorized through use of a PIN.
(2) PIN debit – Access to funds in a cardholder’s asset account for point-of-sale or other purchase
transactions through use of a debit card, payment code, or other device, in which access is
authorized through use of a PIN. Do not include accounts and cards that do not support
point-of-sale or other purchase transactions (e.g., accounts with cards that can only access ATM
networks).
(3) Prepaid – Access to prepaid funds held in an account that may be used for point-of-sale or other
purchase transactions through use of a prepaid card, payment code, or other device. Include
information for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards and for government and nongovernment prepaid programs. For purposes of prepaid card programs set up with an omnibus
account, an account refers to each sub-account for each cardholder and not to the omnibus
account in which funds for each of the sub-accounts are kept.
Activity category (row) definitions:
General definitions:
The following definitions apply throughout the activity categories:
•

•

Third-party fees – Payments by your organization to external service providers for fraud
prevention activities that are performed by those service providers on behalf of your
organization. Service providers may include card networks or affiliates of card networks to the
extent that your organization contracts with such parties for provision of optional or add-on
services related to fraud prevention or data security activities.
In-house costs – Costs incurred for fraud prevention activities that are not outsourced to third
parties.

V.A. Fraud prevention activity: Total cost
Total costs related to activities aimed at detecting and preventing debit and prepaid card fraud as
well as costs related to responding to suspected and realized debit and prepaid card fraud in order
to prevent or limit losses. Report in-house costs and third-party fees as indicated.

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V.B. Type of activity
In rows 1-25, provide the cost of specific fraud prevention activities. The types of fraud
prevention activities listed in the table are illustrative. If necessary, you should add fraud
prevention activities undertaken by your organization.
V.C. Data security: Total cost
Total costs incurred in securing the data processing and communications infrastructure of your
card operations. Report in-house costs and third-party fees as indicated.
V.D. Type of activity
In rows 1-15, provide the cost of specific data security activities. The types of data
security activities listed in the table are illustrative. If necessary, you should add data
security activities undertaken by your organization.
V.E. Research and development
Total costs incurred in the in-house development or improvement of fraud prevention
technologies.
V.F. Offsets for fraud prevention activity costs and data security costs
Total value of any reimbursement or recovery from merchants, acquirers, processors, or other
parties for fraud prevention or data security activities, such as reimbursements for mass card
reissuance following a data security breach.

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Section VI: Fraud activity and losses
Reporting period: Report data for calendar year 2009.
Scope: Report data for fraud activity and losses associated with U.S. domiciled asset accounts held by
consumer, business, or government customers. Do not include data from affiliates or branches located
outside the United States.
General instructions:
•

•
•

•
•

Report fraud activity and losses separately for each card category: PIN debit, signature debit, and
prepaid card (VI.A – VI.C) as defined in previous sections. If your organization is unable to
report fraud activity and losses separately for prepaid card programs, in the comment field:
o Describe how prepaid card fraud activity and losses are captured and reported by your
organization.
o If prepaid card fraud activity and losses are included in either PIN debit or signature
debit, include an estimate of the proportion accounted for by prepaid card fraud for
columns (1), (7), (8), and (9).
Chargebacks and representments should be reported for the calendar year 2009, even if they
relate to transactions made in a prior period.
Do not double count fraud activity and losses across card categories (panels). For example,
if a dual-function PIN and signature debit card is lost and stolen and used to make a
fraudulent signature debit transaction, the incidence should be counted and valued only
once under the signature debit fraud activity and losses.
Do not double count fraud activity and losses across fraud categories (rows).
Round any value to the nearest dollar. Do not include dollar signs or commas.

Number and value of fraudulent transactions (column) definitions: For each card category, report
the following metrics for each type of fraud listed and for the total row:
(1) Number of fraudulent transactions – Gross
Report the gross number of fraudulent transactions. Include fraudulent transactions that
your organization did not return to an acquirer through a chargeback procedure.
(2) Number of fraudulent transactions – Chargebacks net of representments
Report the number of fraudulent transactions that your organization returned to an
acquirer through a chargeback procedure, net of chargebacks that were represented by an
acquirer.

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(3) Number of fraudulent transactions – Recoveries
Report the number of fraudulent transactions where recoveries have been obtained
through methods other than chargebacks.
(4) Value of fraudulent transactions – Gross
Report the gross value of fraudulent transactions. Include the value of fraudulent
transactions that you organization did not return to an acquirer through a chargeback
procedure.
(5) Value of fraudulent transactions – Chargebacks net of representments
Report the value of fraudulent transactions that your organization returned to an acquirer
through a chargeback procedure, net of any chargebacks that were represented by an
acquirer.
(6) Value of fraudulent transactions – Recoveries
Report the value of recoveries associated with fraudulent transactions where recoveries
have been obtained through methods other than chargebacks.
(7) Value of fraudulent transactions – Net fraud losses
Report the gross value of fraudulent transactions (4) less chargebacks net of
representments (5) and less recoveries (6)
(8) Percentage of net fraud losses after representments and recoveries – Cardholders
Report the percentage of net fraud losses (7) that are borne by cardholders of your
institution. Columns (8) and (9) should equal 100 percent.
(9) Percentage of net fraud losses after representments and recoveries – Your Institution
Report the percentage of net fraud losses (7) that are assumed by your institution.
Columns (8) and (9) should equal 100 percent.
Fraud activity category (row) definitions:
Type of fraud: The types of fraud listed are not meant to be exhaustive. Provide additional fraud
categories (up to 15 total) as needed.

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Section VII: Exclusivity arrangements and routing procedures
For the questions in panels VII.A. – VII.F., place an “X” in the box associated with your organization’s
response. Briefly provide any necessary elaboration in the text boxes on the form.

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