FR 3066a

Federal Reserve Payments Study

FR3066a_2020_i

FR 3066a

OMB: 7100-0351

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The Federal Reserve
Payments Study
Survey Period: Calendar Year 2020
The Depository and Financial Institutions Payments Survey
(DFIPS) includes:
 Institution’s affiliates

 Institution profile

 Check profile, payments, deposits, and outgoing returns

 ACH profile, originations, receipts, and outgoing returns

 Wire transfers originated

 Debit cards

 General-purpose prepaid cards

 General-purpose credit cards

 Cash withdrawals

 Alternative payment initiation methods

---- Glossary with Examples ----

Glossary with Examples
Note: The Institution’s Affiliates section is excluded from the glossary.

Institution Profile
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution's U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Note: If your institution represents a third-party processor responding on behalf of a depository institution that
was sampled for this study, please ensure that your response reflects transaction activity of accounts at the
participating institution only and does not include data from other institutions for which your institution processes
payments.
Account type definitions
Consumer account
An account for personal use by an individual or household from which payments are commonly made.
Business/government account
An account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository financial institution, or not-for-profit
organization) from which payments are commonly made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Transaction deposit accounts (including Demand Deposit Accounts (DDAs)) = 1.a + 1.b
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for 2020.
A transaction deposit account is a deposit account for personal use by an individual or household or owned by
an organization from which payments are commonly made.
Include:
▪
Checking accounts
▪
Negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts
▪
Share draft accounts
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Savings accounts
Money market deposit accounts (MMDAs)
Certificates of deposit (CDs)
Prepaid card program accounts
Credit card accounts
Accounts of foreign governments and official institutions
Accounts of other depository institutions
Retail sweep program accounts (item 3 below)
Wholesale sweep program accounts (item 5 below)

► Example 1: Your customer has a student checking account with an average monthly balance of $3,500
at your institution that was open during the entire year of 2020. He also has a savings account and a credit
card with your institution. Please report one transaction deposit account with a balance of $3,500. The $3,500
balance reported is the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
► Example 2: Your customer, Joe, has a checking account open for the months of January through June
with a balance of $1,000 at the end of each month. Your other customer, Jill, has a checking account open
from July through December, with a balance of $6,000 at the end of July and then $0 at the end of each month
thereafter. In this example, report 1 average checking account with a balance of $1,000 for the 2020 calendar
year.
2

1.a

Consumer accounts
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
► Example: Your customer has a student checking account with an average monthly balance of
$2,000 at your institution that was open during the entire year of 2020. He also has a savings account
and a credit card with your institution. In this example, please report 1 consumer account with a
balance of $2,000 for the 2020 calendar year. The $2,000 balance reported is the average of end-ofmonth totals for each of the months in 2020.

1.b

Business/government accounts
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of business/government
accounts.
► Example: Your customer has a business checking account with an average monthly balance of
$6,000 at your institution that was open during the entire year of 2020. He also has a corporate credit
card account with your institution. In this example, please report 1 business/government account with a
balance of $6,000 for the 2020 calendar year. The $6,000 balance reported is the average of end-ofmonth totals for each of the months in 2020.

Did your institution or any of its affiliates employ the use of a retail sweep program (i.e.,
reserve sweep program) during calendar year 2020?
We use your institution’s deposit balances as a sizing measure which contributes to the accuracy of our
estimates of national aggregate payment volumes. Understanding if your institution used a retail sweep
program will also contribute to the accuracy of our estimates. In a retail sweep, a depository institution
transfers funds between a customer’s transaction accounts (both consumer and business/government) and
that customer’s savings and money market deposit accounts (MMDAs) up to six times per month by means of
preauthorized or automatic transfers, typically in order to reduce transaction account reserve requirements
while providing the customer with access to the funds. This practice does not adversely impact the
accountholder but allows the institution to reduce nonearning assets.
See http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/LegalInt/FederalReserveAct/2007/20070501/20070501.pdf
for a regulatory opinion of what approaches may be used to implement these programs.
Do not consider wholesale sweep program accounts (item 5 below). If your answer to this question is No,
please report “0” for items 3 below.

Retail sweep program accounts (i.e., reserve sweep program accounts)
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for 2020. If your answer is No to item 2
above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Savings and money market deposit accounts (MMDAs) associated with retail sweep programs (include
both consumer and business/government accounts)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Checking accounts
Negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts
Share draft accounts
Transaction deposit accounts (item 1 above)
Wholesale sweep program accounts (item 5 below)
Accounts and balances of any savings-type account not associated with transaction deposit accounts
under a sweep program
General ledger accounts (the sub-accounts that have sweeps tied to them should be reported individually,
rather than as one general ledger account)

► Example: Your customer has a student checking account with an average monthly balance of $3,500 at
your institution. He also has a savings account with an average monthly balance of $15,000 with your
institution, which includes a sweep to his checking account as needed to cover payments. Please report one
consumer sweep account with a balance of $15,000. The $15,000 balance reported is the average of end-ofmonth totals for each of the months in 2020.

Did your institution provide a wholesale sweep program (i.e., corporate sweep program)
to your business accountholders during calendar year 2020?
Wholesale sweep program accounts, also known as corporate sweep program accounts, are accounts in
which funds from your business accountholders are swept overnight into investment instruments. Common
investments used in wholesale sweeps are repurchase agreements, Master Notes, offshore Eurodollar
deposits, and mutual funds.
Do not consider retail sweep program accounts (item 3 above). If your answer to this question is No, please
report “0” for item 5 below.

Wholesale sweep program accounts
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for 2020. If your answer is No to item 4
above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Corporate sweep accounts in which funds from your business accountholders are swept overnight into
investment instruments.
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Checking accounts
Negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts
Share draft accounts
Transaction deposit accounts (item 1 above)
Retail sweep program accounts (item 3 above)
Accounts and balances of any savings-type account not associated with transaction deposit accounts
under a sweep program

► Example: Your corporate customer has a business checking account with an average monthly balance
of $3,500 at your institution. The company also has a business savings account with an average monthly
balance of $50,000 with your institution, which includes an overnight sweep into an investment account.
Please report one wholesale sweep program account with a balance of $50,000. The $50,000 balance
reported is the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.

Checks
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution's U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Checks paid
A negotiable instrument drawn on a depository institution. For this study, please follow these guidelines:
Checks paid include…
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Checks paid do not include…

Checks written by individuals, businesses
or government entities
Traveler's checks drawn on your institution
Money orders drawn on your institution
Cashier's checks drawn on your institution
Official checks drawn on your institution
Teller's checks drawn on your institution
Payable through drafts drawn on your
institution
Truncated checks (i.e., image exchange)
Checks paid that were subsequently
returned (outgoing)

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Deposit slips
General ledger tickets
Other non-check documents, such as
payment coupons
Courtesy checks on credit card
accounts
Checks converted to ACH (i.e., ARC,
POP, BOC transactions)

Bank of first deposit
The first depository institution in which a check is deposited. The “bank of first deposit” may be a bank or credit union
and may not be your institution.
“On-us” correspondent deposits
Checks drawn on your institution that are deposited at your institution by a correspondent banking customer, which is
the “bank of first deposit”. A correspondent banking relationship is when your institution holds balances for an
unaffiliated depository institution in a due-to account and performs check clearing services on its behalf.
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A transaction deposit or savings account for personal use by an individual or household from which check payments
can be made.
Business/government account
A transaction deposit or savings account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository
financial institution, or not-for-profit organization) from which check payments can be made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. The measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and effect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-partyfraud
includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution outsource check processing to another organization (i.e., its
“processor”) during calendar year 2020?
If your institution cannot process checks internally and outsources this process to a third-party vendor, please
answer Yes to this question. If your institution outsourced check processing for part of 2020, please answer
Yes.
If your answer to this question is No, please skip item 1.a below.
Note: If your answer to this question is Yes, please request the necessary data from your institution’s
payments processor, or provide them with a PDF copy of the survey so that they may respond on your behalf.
If your institution outsourced check processing for part of 2020, please also request the necessary data from
your institution’s payments processor and combine it with check totals that were processed by your institution.
1.a If your answer is “Yes, in all cases,” or “Yes, in some cases,” to item 1 above, are
you able to include these outsourced portions in your answer below?
If possible, please report your institution’s check volume processed by another organization. If your
answer is No to item 1.a above, please report all check volume processed by your institution and explain
in the comments box at the end of this section.

Are you able to exclude non-check documents from "all checks drawn on your
institution" (item 5 below)?
Non-check documents are “other” items processed on check sorters (e.g., batch headers, general ledger
tickets, cash-in or cash-out tickets, deposit slips). Even if you are unable to exclude non-check documents,
please report all check volumes drawn on your institution, including non-check documents.

Are you able to report checks deposited at one affiliate of your institution but drawn on
another affiliate of your institution as on-us volume in item 5.b below?
Some institutions call this “on-we” volume, which should be reported entirely under item 5.b below if possible.
Even if you are unable to report “on-us” volume in item 5.b, please report all checks drawn on your institution
in item 5 below.

Did your institution process checks for an unaffiliated depository institution as part of a
correspondent banking relationship during calendar year 2020?
As a “correspondent bank,” your institution holds balances for an unaffiliated depository institution in a due-to
account and performs check clearing services on its behalf.
6

► Example: Bank A received deposits at its branches. Rather than processing and forwarding transit
checks for collection itself, Bank A deposited the checks into a due-to account at Bank B. Bank B cleared
Bank A’s checks on its behalf. In this example, Bank B is a correspondent processor and would answer Yes
to this question.
5.

Total checks drawn on your institution = 5.a + 5.b
These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border checks (or share drafts) for which your institution
was the paying bank as defined by Federal Reserve Regulation CC: Availability of Funds and Collection of
Checks (Reg. CC).
Note: Count each unique check only once, and avoid these two common mistakes: 1) Do not double-count
electronic check presentment (ECP) items if your institution received an electronic file with paper to follow, and
2) if your institution performed proof-of-deposit processing, do not calculate total checks drawn on your
institution as the difference between prime pass and transit check volumes. Prime pass volume includes noncheck documents, which should be excluded.
Include:
▪
Usually the personal and business checks written by your accountholder customers, as well as checks
written on behalf of your institution. Do not forget the following:
o Controlled disbursement checks, if applicable
o Official checks, including cashier’s checks, teller’s checks, and treasurer’s checks (i.e.,
those guaranteed by your institution and drawn on your institution’s account)
o Checks presented to your institution as paying bank but were subsequently returned unpaid
to the “bank of first deposit” or its designated processor (i.e., outgoing returns) or
chargebacks to the depositing customer if your institution was the “bank of first deposit”
(i.e., “on-us” returns)
Do not include:
▪
Checks drawn on other institutions (i.e., transit checks)
▪
Checks that your institution received as a “pass-through correspondent” for which another institution was
the paying bank
▪
Non-check documents—such as batch headers, general ledger tickets, cash-in or cash-out tickets, and
deposit tickets—that were processed on check sorters
► Example: Your customer wrote a check for $57 to pay her water bill. If your institution has a depository
relationship with this water company, these checks are “on-us” deposited checks. In this example, you would
report 1 check with a value of $57 in items 5 above and 5.b below.
5.a

Checks drawn on your institution for which another institution was the “bank of
first deposit”
These are all checks drawn on your institution for which another institution was the “bank of first
deposit.”
Note: Do not double-count electronic check presentment (ECP) items if your institution received an
electronic file with paper to follow.
Include:
▪
Inclearings and “on-us” checks deposited by correspondent customers
▪
Checks received from the Federal Reserve or via clearinghouses and image exchange networks,
or in direct presentment for same-day settlement
▪
Controlled disbursement checks if applicable
Do not include:
▪
Checks for which your institution was the “bank of first deposit” or checks drawn on other
institutions
▪
Checks drawn on an unaffiliated depository institution that were deposited at your institution (i.e.,
outbound transit checks)
▪
Checks drawn on your institution for which your institution was also the “bank of first deposit” (i.e.,
“on-us” checks for which your institution was the “bank of first deposit,” item 5.b below)
▪
Checks deposited and drawn on different affiliates of your institution (some call this “on-we”
volume)
► Example: Your customer wrote a check for $125 to pay for her groceries. The grocery store has a
depository relationship with an unaffiliated depository institution. After processing the grocer’s deposit,
that institution (i.e., the “collecting bank”) presented the check through the Federal Reserve, through a
local clearinghouse, or directly for same-day settlement to your institution for payment. In this example,
you would report 1 check with a value of $125.

5.b

“On-us” checks for which your institution was the “bank of first deposit”
These are all checks drawn on your institution for which your institution was the “bank of first deposit.”
Note: If your institution truncated checks at the teller line, please include those checks in this volume.
Include:
▪
All checks cleared between your affiliates, which include but are not limited to the following:
o Checks deposited in your branches
o Checks received from other internal departments (e.g., wholesale or retail lockbox,
currency/coin vault operations, loan payments processing operations)
o Checks deposited by corporate clients (typically in the evening) directly to your itemprocessing operations (i.e., pre-encoded or un-encoded deposits or remote capture deposits)
o Checks deposited and drawn on different affiliates of your institution (some call this “on-we”
volume)
Do not include:
▪
Inclearings received from the Federal Reserve, a clearinghouse, or another institution (i.e., sameday settlement)
▪
Checks deposited by correspondent customers, even if they were drawn on your institution. These
are “on-us” correspondent deposits and should be counted in item 5.a above
► Example: Your customer wrote a $65 check to her babysitter, who also happened to be your
customer. When the babysitter deposited the check, your institution was both the collecting institution
and the paying institution on this check. In this example, you would report 1 check with a value of $65.

Total checks drawn on your institution (repeat item 5) = 6.a + 6.b
Repeat item 5 above. These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border checks (or share drafts) for
which your institution was the paying bank as defined by Federal Reserve Regulation CC: Availability of Funds
and Collection of Checks (Reg. CC).
Note: Count each unique check only once, and avoid these two common mistakes: 1) Do not double-count
electronic check presentment (ECP) items if your institution received an electronic file with paper to follow, and
2) if your institution performed proof-of-deposit processing, do not calculate total checks drawn on your
institution as the difference between prime pass and transit check volumes. Prime pass volume includes noncheck documents, which should be excluded.
Include:
▪
Usually the personal and business checks written by your accountholder customers, as well as checks
written on behalf of your institution. Do not forget the following:
o Controlled disbursement checks, if applicable
o Official checks, including cashier’s checks, teller’s checks, and treasurer’s checks (i.e.,
those guaranteed by your institution and drawn on your institution’s account)
o Checks presented to your institution as paying bank but were subsequently returned unpaid
to the “bank of first deposit” or its designated processor (i.e., outgoing returns) or
chargebacks to the depositing customer if your institution was the “bank of first deposit”
(i.e., “on-us” returns)
Do not include:
▪
Checks drawn on other institutions (i.e., transit checks)
▪
Checks that your institution received as a “pass-through correspondent” for which another institution was
the paying bank
▪
Non-check documents—such as batch headers, general ledger tickets, cash-in or cash-out tickets, and
deposit tickets—that were processed on check sorters
► Example: Sarah, your customer, wrote a check for $57 to pay her water bill. The water company is also
a client of your institution, and they wrote a check to their power company for $2,000. In this example, you
would report two checks with a value of $2,057 in item 6 above, one check with a value of $57 for item 6.a
below, and one check with a value of $2,000 in item 6.b below.
6.a

From consumer accounts
All checks paid from consumer accounts of any kind. Please see the General Terminology section
above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
Consumer checks, no matter what kind of consumer account they were written on
▪
Any money orders, cashier’s checks, or official checks paid on behalf of consumer accountholders
through any type of account set up for that purpose
▪
Both inclearings and on-us checks
8

Do not include:
▪
Checks paid from business/government accounts
► Example: Your consumer customer, Joe, wrote a check for $1,400 to pay his rent last month. In
this example, you would report one check for $1,400.
6.b

From business/government accounts
All checks paid from business/government accounts of any kind. Please see the General Terminology
section above for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
Checks the institution pays itself on its own accounts
▪
Any money orders, cashier’s checks, or official checks paid on behalf of business/government
accountholders through any type of account set up for that purpose, and any checks your institution
paid on its own behalf
▪
Small business accounts under business/government accounts
▪
Both inclearings and on-us checks
Do not include:
▪
Checks paid from consumer accounts
► Example: Your corporate customer, Joe’s Shoes, wrote a check for $3,000 to one of his suppliers.
In this example, you would report one check for $3,000.

Third-party fraudulent checks drawn on your institution
These are all third-party, fraudulent unauthorized checks drawn on your institution that were deposited,
cleared, and settled. Please report any third-party, fraudulent paid checks regardless of whether or not those
funds were subsequently recovered through the check return process or by other means.
Include:
▪
Only fraudulent cleared and settled paid checks that were not authorized by your institution’s
accountholders (third-party fraud)
o If a transit check, report only those fraudulent items that resulted in a transfer of funds to the
collecting bank
o If an on-us check for which your institution was the bank of first deposit, report only those fraudulent
items that resulted in funds being made available to the depositing customer
Do not include:
▪
Check fraud prevented before settlement (transit check) or funds made available to the depositing
customer (on-us checks for which your institution was the bank of first deposit)
o If a transit check, a transfer of funds to the collecting bank did not occur
o If an on-us check for which your institution was the bank of first deposit, funds were not made
available to the depositing customers
▪ Fraud committed by your institution’s accountholders (first-party fraud), or checks authorized by a valid
accountholder as part of a scam
► Example 1: Jane and Mary are accountholders at your institution, and both of their checkbooks were
stolen. The perpetrator wrote a check for $2,000 from Jane’s checkbook, which your institution paid. The
perpetrator also wrote a check for $1,500 from Mary’s checkbook, which your institution did not pay per Mary’s
instructions to stop all check payments from her account due to her stolen checkbook. Susan is also an
accountholder at your institution. She wrote a check for $100, which, due to a misread item, posted
erroneously to her account for $110. Only the check from Jane's account is classified as a third-party
fraudulent unauthorized check. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $2,000.
► Example 2: Daniel is an accountholder at your institution. He recently bought a TV at a retailer for
$1,200 and paid with a check. After the funds transferred from Daniel’s account to the retailer’s account, your
accountholder claimed this transaction as fraudulent, stating that his checkbook was stolen and that a
perpetrator had written the check. Your institution made an inquiry into the fraud claim and determined that
Daniel indeed wrote the check and made a false claim of fraud. In this example, you would not report the
transaction as third-party fraud since it is considered first-party fraud.

Total checks deposited at your institution
These include checks that were drawn on your institution (i.e., “on-us” checks for which your institution was the
“bank of first deposit,” item 5.b above and “on-us” checks deposited by correspondent customers) and checks
drawn on other depository institutions (i.e., transit checks).
Include:
▪
Checks deposited in your branches
▪
Checks received from other internal departments (e.g., wholesale or retail lockbox, currency/coin vault
operations, loan payments processing operations)
▪
Checks deposited by corporate clients (typically in the evening) directly to your item processing operations
(i.e., pre-encoded or un-encoded deposits or remote capture deposits)
▪
Checks deposited by correspondent banking customers
► Example: A customer deposits a check by using your institution’s app on his smartphone for $100.
Another customer walks into one of your institution’s branches and deposits a check for $250. In this example,
both types of checks would be included for a total of two deposits in the amount of $350.

Third-party fraudulent checks deposited at your institution
These are all third-party, fraudulent unauthorized checks deposited at your institution that subsequently were
cleared and settled. Please report any third-party, fraudulent paid checks regardless of whether or not those
funds were subsequently recovered through the check return process or by other means.
Include:
▪
Only fraudulent cleared and settled paid checks that were not authorized by the institution accountholders
(third-party fraud)
o If a transit check, report only those fraudulent items that resulted in a transfer of funds to the
collecting bank
o If an on-us check for which your institution was the bank of first deposit, report only those fraudulent
items that resulted in funds’ being made available to the depositing customer
Do not include:
▪
Check fraud prevented before funds were made available to the depositing customer
o If a transit check, a transfer of funds to the collecting bank did not occur
o If an on-us check for which your institution was the bank of first deposit, funds were not made
available to the depositing customers
▪
Fraud committed by your institution’s accountholders (first-party fraud), or checks authorized by a valid
accountholder as part of a scam
► Example 1: Dan is an accountholder at a different institution. Dan’s checkbook was stolen and the
perpetrator deposited one of the stolen checks for $2,000 into an account at your institution, which then
cleared and settled. Dan’s institution notified yours about the fraudulent check that had been deposited. In
this example, you would report one check for $2,000.
► Example 2: Sarah is an accountholder and your institution, and she deposited a check for $500 in her
bank account. After the check had cleared, Sarah contacted your institution claiming that the deposit had misread her check, and $5,000 should have been deposited into her account. Your institution investigated the
claim and determined that the check had not been misread, and the correct amount of $500 had been
deposited into her account. In this example, you would not report the transaction as third-party fraud since it
is considered first-party fraud.

10.

Total outgoing and “on-us” returned checks
These are all checks drawn on your institution that your institution returned unpaid.
Include:
▪
All checks drawn on your institution that it returned unpaid, whether to another institution or to your own
accountholders
Do not include:
▪
Checks drawn on another institution and returned to your institution unpaid (i.e., incoming returns)
► Example: Your customer wrote a check for $98 that was deposited (at your institution or another) and
presented for payment. Your customer’s account had insufficient funds and no overdraft protection. Your
institution returned the check unpaid. In this example, you would report 1 check with a value of $98.

ACH Profile
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution's U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
ACH entries
Transactions in this category are payment entries, originated or received by your institution and result in a transfer of
funds from an account at your institution, that are processed through an Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) platform
according to NACHA rules and format conventions. For this study, please follow these guidelines:
ACH entries include…

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

ACH entries do not include…

▪
▪
▪

Debits received and credits sent
Debits originated and credits received
Direct exchange
On-us entries
Network entries
Entries that were subsequently returned
(outgoing)

Addenda records
Zero-dollar items (e.g., NOCs, Prenotes)
Deletes/reversals

Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI)
The depository institution that initiates and warrants electronic payments through the ACH network (or on-us) on
behalf of its customers. Some institutions refer to forward originations as “live items.”
Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI)
The depository institution that accepts and posts ACH transactions to customer accounts.
Network ACH entry
An ACH entry that is cleared through a network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or Electronic Payments Network
[EPN]).
In-house, on-us ACH entry (cleared within your institution and not through the Federal Reserve
or EPN)
An ACH entry for which your institution is both the ODFI and the RDFI without the use of a network operator (i.e., the
Federal Reserve or EPN) for clearing or settlement. On-us entries result in the movement of funds from one account
to another within your institution.
Direct Exchange ACH entry
An ACH entry that is exchanged directly between your institution and another without the use of a network operator
(i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). Some institutions call these “Direct Send” entries. Please include all Direct
Exchange ACH entries that result in payments from accounts at your institution.
Offset ACH entry
An on-us ACH entry used to effect settlement by an ODFI. For example, when acting as ODFI for 100 $50 credit
entries for a corporate accountholder, an ODFI might originate a single $5,000 debit entry to draw funds from the
originator’s funding account. An offset ACH entry is similar to an “accounting movement of money” to settle a
corresponding ACH entry.
Using the example above, if a business account at your institution pays payroll to 100 employees for $50 each
(ODFI credit origination), this payment generates 100 credit originations for a total of $5,000. The offset
transaction is one debit origination for a total of $5,000. The number of offset transactions may vary depending
on the institution. Someinstitutions might do a one-to-one offset transaction per payment origination.
11

Example assumptions
▪
None of the employees bank at the same institution as the employer, thus all ACH entries must go through
the ACH network
▪
Employer’s bank (ODFI) = Bank A
▪
Employees’ bank (RDFI) = Bank B
▪
ODFI offsets in-house on-us
ODFI

Step 1: ACH debit
origination offset for $5,000

ODFI DDA
Account
($5,000)

ODFI "In
Process"
account
$5,000

Number: 1 offset debit
originated Value:
$5,000

RDFI

Step 2: ODFI Fed account
settlement

ODF I "In
Process"
account
($5,000)

Step 3: RDFI Fed account
settlement

Fed
account
($5,000)

Fed
account
$5,000

Net settlement of
money ($5,000)

RDFI "In
Process"
Account
$5,000

Net settlement of
money $5,000

Step 4: Credit RDFI DDA
accounts
RDFI "In
Process"
account
($5,000)

RDFI DDA
Accounts
$50 each

Number: 100 credits
received Value:
$50 each

“In Process” accounts are also known by some institutions as "settlement accounts" or "due-from accounts.”
Balanced file
Files containing offsetting entries that automatically credit or debit the customer’s demand deposit account (DDA) for
the debit and/or credit transactions on the file. The debit and credit offset entries should equal the value of the creditand debit-originated entries respectively in the received file from the accountholder.
Unbalanced file
Files that do not have an offsetting entry that automatically credits or debits the customer’s DDA account for the debit
and/or credit originated. After receiving the file from the accountholder, the ODFI will then originate the offset entries
to balance the file. Most institutions prefer to receive unbalanced files.
Same-day ACH entry
An entry in which the effective entry date is the same banking day as the date on which the entry is transmitted by the
ODFI to its ACH operator, and that is transmitted by the ACH operator’s deadline for same-day processing and
settlement. A same-day entry must be for an amount of $25,000 or less. An IAT (international ACH) or ENR
(automated enrollment) entry cannot be a same-day entry. Network ACH same-day credit entries became effective
as of September 23, 2016. Network ACH same-day debit entries became effective as of September 15, 2017.
However, some institutions may have used proprietary systems prior to these dates.
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A transaction deposit or savings account for personal use by an individual or household from which ACH payments
can be made.
Business/government account
A transaction deposit or savings account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository
financial institution, or not-for-profit organization) from which ACH payments can be made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.

Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. It is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud attempts; rather, it is
a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions are able to penetrate
the payment system and affect settlement between banks or create a book transfer of funds if the fraud happens
within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes, which may or may not
include a loss to various entities but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds transfer, if only
temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your institution. The
definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party fraud includes at
least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution post transactions from other payment instruments to your Demand
Deposit Account (DDA) system using your ACH platform during calendar year 2020?
If your answer is Yes, please do not include these transactions in the items below.
Note: Rather than maintaining an interface between your institution’s DDA system and a particular
transaction processing system (e.g., signature-based debit card or wire transfer), your institution creates a
separate ACH entry to post each of those non-ACH transactions.

Did your institution originate forward ACH credits (not including returns or offset entries)
during calendar year 2020?
Answer Yes if ACH credit originations are a product offered to accountholder customers (i.e., your institution is
an ODFI). Answer No if not, or if your institution only originates ACH credits for the purpose of returning
credits received from another institution (i.e., your institution is not an ODFI) or offsetting debit originations.
Note: If your answer is No, please report No for item 5 below, and report "0" for items 6, 7, 8, and 9 and their
subsets below.

Did your institution originate forward ACH debits (not including returns or offset entries)
during calendar year 2020?
Answer Yes if ACH debit originations are a product offered to accountholder customers (i.e., your institution is
an ODFI). Answer No if not, or if your institution only originates ACH debits for the purpose of returning debits
received from another institution (i.e., your institution is not an ODFI) or offsetting credit originations. If you do
not originate debit entries, then you will not receive in-house on-us debit entries).
Note: If your answer is No, please report "0" for item 10, 11, and 12.b below. If your answer is Don’t Know,
please report NR for item 10, 11, and 12.b below. This applies to 12.b because your institution is both the
ODFI and RDFI for in-house on-us non-offset debit entries. Therefore, if your institution cannot determine
ODFI debits, then you will not be able to accurately calculate when your institution was both the ODFI and
RDFI for debit entries.

Did your institution originate offset ACH debit or credit entries during calendar year
2020?
Offset entries are internal settlements for ACH transactions by an ODFI. In most cases, institutions offset (or
move) the funds from the accountholder’s DDA to an “in process” account before the funds are settled with the
Fed, EPN, or internally. If your answer is No, please skip items 4.a and 4.b below.
► Example: Your corporate customer paid 20 of its employees $1,000 each electronically through ACH. To
make the total payment of $20,000, your institution originated one debit ACH entry for $20,000 to “move” the
money from your accountholder’s DDA to your institution’s “in-process” account. (An in-process account is a
suspense account owned by your institution that settles internally or with the network operator—i.e., the
Federal Reserve or EPN.) Your institution then effected a net settlement of money with the network operator
(i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN) between incoming and outgoing payments.
4.a

If your answer is "Yes" to item 4 above, are you able to exclude offset ACH
volumes from balanced files in your answer below?
Even if you are not able to exclude all offset volumes from balanced files, please report the number and
value of your institution's forward ACH entries and third-party fraud for all items below.

4.b

If you answer is “Yes” to item 4 above, are you able to exclude offset ACH volumes
from unbalanced files in your answers below?
Even if you are not able to exclude all offset volumes from unbalanced files, please report the number
and value of your institution's forward ACH entries and third-party fraud for all items below.

Did your institution offer same-day settlement of ACH credit originations during calendar
year 2020?
The effective date for network same-day settlement of credits was September 23, 2016. If your answer is No,
please report "0" for items 8.a and 9.a below.

ACH Originations
Please include all transactions that involve a forward transfer of value. Do not include those transactions
that do not involve a forward transfer of value. This allocation maps to the following SEC code breakout:
SEC Codes to Include: ARC, BOC, CCD, CIE, CTX, IAT, POP, POS, PPD, RCK, SHR, TEL, TRC, WEB, XCK
SEC Codes to Exclude: ACK, ADV, ATX, COR, DNE, ENR, MTE, RET, TRX
6.

Total forward ACH credits your institution originated (ODFI credits) = 6.a + 6.b + 6.c
These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and direct exchange ACH credit
entries for which your institution was the ODFI. If your answer is No to item 2 above, please report “0” ACH
credit entries originated by your institution here.
Include:
▪
In-house, on-us forward credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH credits originated
▪
Network on-us credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH credit entries for which you are the ODFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Returns of ACH entries received by your institution
Network offset ACH credit entries originated
In-house, on-us offset ACH credit entries originated
Direct exchange offset ACH credit entries originated
ACH entries received from other institutions
Debit ACH entries originated
Addenda records
Zero-dollar entries

► Example: Your corporate customer paid 15 of its employees $300 each electronically through the ACH
network. Ten of these employees have deposit accounts at your institution. To credit those ten employees’
accounts, your institution originated in-house on-us credit entries. Your institution originated the credit entries
on behalf of your customer for the five employees that do not have a deposit account at your institution and
sent them through your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this example, you
would report 15 transactions for $4,500.
6.a

Network ACH credit entries originated
These are credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI, and the credit entry was cleared
through a network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). Please refer to the General
Terminology section above for the definition of “Network” entries.
Include:
▪
All ACH credit entries cleared through a network operator, for which your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
ACH entries cleared directly between your institution and another (i.e., direct exchange ACH
entries)
► Example: Your corporate customer paid 5 of its employees $500 each electronically through the
ACH network. Your institution originated the credit entries on behalf of your customer and sent them
through your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this example, you would
report 5 transactions for $2,500.

6.b

In-house on-us ACH credit entries originated
These are all ACH credit entries that were not cleared through the Federal Reserve or EPN and for
which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI, for the purpose of moving funds from one account
to another at your institution.
Include:
▪
All ACH credit entries not cleared through a network operator, for which your institution was the
ODFI and RDFI
Do not include:
▪
In-house on-us offset ACH credit entries originated
► Example: Your corporate customer paid 200 of its employees $800 each electronically through the
ACH using your institution as its ODFI. 10 of these employees have deposit accounts at your
institution. To credit those 10 employees’ accounts, your institution originated in-house on-us credit
entries. In this example, you would report 10 transactions for $8,000.
15

6.c

Direct exchange ACH credit entries originated
These are all ACH credit entries that were originated but not cleared through the Federal Reserve or
EPN. Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the definition of “Direct Exchange”
entries.
Include:
▪
All direct exchange ACH credit entries, for which your institution was the ODFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
ACH entries received from other institutions
Debit ACH entries originated
Network entries originated, such as ACH credits your institution originated through the Federal
Reserve or EPN (item 6.a above)
In-house on-us entries, such as in-house on-us credits your institution originated (item 6.b above)

► Example: Your institution is part of a regional processing center, and you transact via direct
exchange with other institutions that are part of the regional processing center. Your corporate
customer paid 10 of its employees $750 each electronically through the ACH. These employees bank
at institutions that are also part of the regional processing center. In order to avoid clearing fees from
the Federal Reserve or EPN, your institution directs the transaction through the regional processing
center to the RDFI via direct exchange. In this example, you would report 10 transaction for $7,500.
7.

Total forward ACH credits your institution originated (ODFI credits) (repeat item 6)
= 7.a + 7.b
Repeat item 6 above. These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and
direct exchange ACH credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI. If your answer is No to item 2
above, please report “0” ACH credit entries originated by your institution here.
Include:
▪
In-house on-us forward credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH credits originated
▪
Network on-us credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH credit entries for which you were the ODFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Returns of ACH entries received by your institution
Network offset ACH credit entries originated
In-house on-us offset ACH credit entries originated
ACH entries received from other institutions
Debit ACH entries originated
Addenda records
Zero-dollar entries

From consumer accounts
These are credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI and were originated from consumer
accounts. Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the definition of consumer
accounts.
Include:
▪
All ACH credit originations from consumer accounts, for which your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
Any ACH credit originations from business/government accounts, for which your institution was the
ODFI
► Example: Your consumer customer, Joe, initiated a one-time payment for $1,000 to his friend
through ACH. Your institution originated the credit entries on behalf of your customer and sent them
through your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this example, you would
report one entry for $1,000.

7.b

From business/government accounts
These are credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI and were originated from
business/government accounts. Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the
definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
All credit originations from business/government accounts, for which your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
Any credit originations from consumer accounts, for which your institution was the ODFI
► Example: Your corporate customer, Bob’s Hotel, paid 20 of its employees $1,500 each
electronically through the ACH. Your institution originated the credit entries on behalf of your customer
and sent them through your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this
example, you would report twenty transactions for $30,000.

Total forward ACH credits your institution originated (ODFI credits) (repeat item 6)
= 8.a + 8.b
Repeat item 6 above. These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and
direct exchange ACH credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI. If your answer is No to item 2
above, please report “0” ACH credit entries originated by your institution here.
Include:
▪
In-house on-us forward credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH credits originated
▪
Network on-us credit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH credit entries for which you were the ODFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

► Example: Your corporate customer paid 15 of its employees $300 each electronically through the ACH
network. 10 of these employees have deposit accounts at your institution. To credit those 10 employees’
accounts, your institution originated in-house on-us credit entries. Your institution originated the credit entries
on behalf of your customer for the 5 employees that do not have a deposit account at your institution and sent
them through your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this example, you would
report 15 transactions for $4,500
8.a

Same-day settlement
These are credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI and for which the payment was settled
on the same day. Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the definition of sameday ACH entries. If your answer is No to item 5 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
All ACH credit originations settled same-day, for which your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
Any ACH credit originations settled non-same-day, for which your institution was the ODFI
► Example: Your corporate customer, Sally’s Plumbing, initiated a one-time bill payment for $2,500
to one of its vendors, ABC Supplies, through the ACH network. The vendor does not bank with your
institution. Since the payment of this bill was urgent, your customer decided to use the same-day
settlement option your institution began offering on September 23, 2016. Since the ACH credit was
sent to an unaffiliated institution, your institution sent the ACH entries through a network operator (i.e.,
the Federal Reserve or EPN). In this example, you would report 1 entry for $2,500.

8.b

Non-same-day settlement
These are credit entries for which your institution was the ODFI and for which the payment was settled
on a later day after the transaction cleared.
Include:
▪
All ACH credit originations settled non-same-day, for which your institution was the ODFI
17

Do not include:
▪
Any ACH credit originations settled same-day, for which your institution was the ODFI
► Example: Your corporate customer paid 50 of its employees $2,400 each electronically through
the ACH. Your institution originated the credit entries on behalf of your customer and sent them through
your chosen network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). The settlement of money occurred
on a different day from the transmission of the file. In this example, you would report 50 transactions for
$120,000.
9.

Third-party fraudulent forward ACH credit entries your institution originated (fraudulent
ODFI credits) = 9.a + 9.b
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH credit entries that cleared and settled, for which
your institution was the ODFI, and that resulted in transfer of funds to the RDFI. These entries are typically
fraudulent payments resulting from an account takeover by an unauthorized third party. Please report any
third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether your accountholder recovered the funds. If your answer is
No to item 2 above, please report “0” ACH third party fraudulent credit entries originated by your institution
here.
Include:
▪
▪

Only fraudulent, cleared and settled ACH credit transactions originated by your institution that were not
authorized by your institution’s accountholders (third-party fraud). If the fraudulent transaction was on-us,
“cleared and settled” means that the funds were made available to the receiving accountholder.
Fraudulent on-us ACH credit transactions

Do not include:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

ACH fraud attempts that were prevented before all funds were made available to the RDFI
Returns solely for reason codes R05, R07, R10, R29, or R51 (i.e., verify with your fraud department that
the unauthorized transaction was actual fraud and that the transaction settled with the RDFI)
Fraud committed by your institution's accountholders (first-party fraud)
Fraud committed by a valid accountholder (first-party fraud)
Fraudulent ACH credit entries originated and authorized by a valid accountholder as part of a scam
Fraudulent ACH credit entries that were originated by your institution and cleared and settled, but the
funds were frozen and did not become available to the perpetrator at any time
Fraudulent ACH credit entries received by your institution in which another institution was the ODFI
Fraudulent ACH debit entries

► Example 1: A small business accountholder at your institution originated vendor payments via ACH
through your online portal. His PC was compromised by malware, and his login credentials were stolen. The
perpetrator originated 10 payments for $10,000 each to an account he maintains under a false name. The
funds were then made available to the perpetrator’s account after the transactions cleared and settled. One
day later, the same perpetrator attempted to initiate 5 more payments of $5,000 each. The accountholder had
already alerted your institution to the previous fraud, so your institution put a hold on the account and these
funds were never made available to the perpetrator. In this example, you would report 10 transactions for
$100,000.
► Example 2: A small business accountholder at your institution originated salary payments via ACH
through your online portal. The owner of the company fell out of favor with a recently fired employee, Joe. To
wrongly retrieve the last salary payment to Joe, the owner of the company claimed that the last ACH transfer
of funds to Joe was fraudulent. Your institution opened a fraud claim and verified that the transaction was not
fraudulent. Since this is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), do not include this transaction in
item 9 above.
9.a

Same-day settlement
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH credit entries for which your institution was
the ODFI and that resulted in a transfer of funds to the RDFI on the same day the ACH file was sent.
Please report any third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether or not your accountholder
recovered the funds. If your answer is No to item 5 above, please report “0” ACH credit entries your
institution originated here.
Include:
▪
All third-party, fraudulent, ACH credit transactions cleared and settled on the same-day, for which
your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent ACH credit entries originated and settled non-same-day

► Example 1: A small business accountholder at your institution originates vendor payments via
ACH through your online portal. His PC was compromised by malware, and his login credentials were
stolen. The perpetrator originated five payments for $1,000 each to an account he maintains under a
false name. The funds were made available to the perpetrator’s account on the same day the
transactions cleared. In this example, you would report five transactions for $5,000.
► Example 2: A small business accountholder at your institution originates vendor payments via
ACH through your online portal. He recently acquired an expensive tool for his business and paid for it
via ACH, and the funds settled on the same day the file was transferred. The tool malfunctioned after
five days of use, and the vendor did not offer a warranty. Your accountholder claimed the ACH
payment as fraud, since he felt the vendor was unethical by not offering to send a replacement tool or a
refund. Since this is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), do not include this transaction
in item 9.a above.
9.b

Non-same-day settlement
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH credit entries for which your institution was
the ODFI and that resulted in a transfer of funds to the RDFI on a different day from when the ACH file
was sent. Please report any third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether or not your
accountholder recovered the funds.
Include:
▪
All third-party, fraudulent, ACH credit transactions cleared and settled non-same-day, for which
your institution was the ODFI
Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent ACH credit entries originated and settled same-day
► Example 1: A small business accountholder at your institution originates vendor payments via
ACH through your online portal. His PC was compromised by malware, and his login credentials were
stolen. The perpetrator originated three payments for $3,000 each to an account he maintains under a
false name. The funds were made available to the perpetrator’s account two days after the transactions
cleared. In this example, you would report three transactions for $9,000.
► Example 2: A small business accountholder at your institution originates vendor payments via
ACH through your online portal. He recently acquired an expensive tool for his business and paid for it
via ACH, and the funds settled two days after the file was transferred. The tool malfunctioned after five
days of use, and the vendor did not offer a warranty. Your accountholder claimed the ACH payment as
fraud, since he felt the vendor was unethical by not offering to send a replacement tool or a refund.
Since this is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), do not include this transaction in item
9.b above.

10.

Total forward ACH debit entries your institution originated (ODFI debits)
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and direct exchange ACH
debit entries for which your institution was the ODFI. Exclude returns. If your answer is No to item 3 above,
please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
In-house, on-us forward debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH debits originated
▪
Network on-us debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH debit entries for which you are the ODFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Returns
Network offset ACH debit entries originated
In-house, on-us offset ACH debit entries originated
ACH entries received from other institutions
Credit ACH entries originated
Addenda records
Zero-dollar entries

► Example: Your corporate customer billed 10 of its suppliers $100 each electronically through the ACH
using your institution as its ODFI. 5 of these employees have deposit accounts at your institution. To debit
those 10 employees’ accounts, your institution originated in-house on-us debit entries to avoid clearing fees
from the Federal Reserve or EPN. One employee has a deposit account with an institution in which you have
a direct exchange relationship. For this employee, your institution originated an ACH debit entry via direct
exchange. For the other four employees, your institution originated ACH debit entries through the network. In
this example, you would report 10 transactions for $1,000.
19

11.

Third-party fraudulent forward ACH debit entries your institution originated (fraudulent
ODFI debits)
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH debit entries that cleared and settled, for which
your institution was the ODFI, and that resulted in transfer of funds from the RDFI. These entries are typically
fraudulent payments resulting from an account takeover by an unauthorized third party. Please report any
third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether your accountholder recovered the funds. If your answer is
No to item 3 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Only fraudulent, cleared and settled ACH debit transactions originated by your institution that were not
authorized by your institution’s accountholders (third-party fraud). If the fraudulent transaction was on-us,
“cleared and settled” means that the funds were made available to the receiving accountholder.
▪
Fraudulent on-us ACH debit transactions
Do not include:
▪
ACH fraud attempts that were prevented before all funds were made available to the RDFI
▪
Returns solely for reason codes R05, R07, R10, R29, or R51 (i.e., verify with your fraud department that
the unauthorized transaction was actual fraud and that the transaction settled with the RDFI)
▪
Fraud committed by your institution’s accountholders (first-party fraud)
▪
Fraud committed by a valid accountholder (first-party fraud)
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit entries originated and authorized by a valid accountholder as part of a scam
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit entries that were originated by your institution and cleared and settled, but the
funds were frozen and did not become available to the perpetrator at any time
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit entries received by your institution in which another institution was the ODFI
▪
Fraudulent ACH credit entries
► Example: Jill is a small business accountholder at your institution. Her PC was compromised by
malware, and her login credentials were stolen. The perpetrator originated 10 fake bills for $10,000 each to
ten of Jill’s suppliers. The perpetrator maintained control of your client’s account while the transactions
cleared and settled, so the funds were made available to him. Two days later, the same perpetrator attempted
to initiate 5 more bills of $5,000 each. The accountholder had already alerted your institution to the previous
fraud, so your institution put a hold on the account and these funds were never made available to the
perpetrator. In this example, you would report 10 transactions for $100,000.

ACH Receipts and Outgoing Returns
12.

Total forward ACH debit entries your institution received (RDFI debits) = 12.a + 12.b + 12.c
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and direct exchange ACH
debit entries for which your institution was the ODFI.
Include:
▪
In-house, on-us forward debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH debits received
▪
Network on-us debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH debit entries for which your institution is the RDFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Returns of ACH entries originated by your institution
Network offset ACH debit entries received
In-house, on-us offset ACH debit entries received
ACH entries originated from other institutions
Credit ACH entries received
Addenda records
Zero-dollar entries

► Example: Your corporate customer, a cable company, collected monthly payments of $50 from its 30
customers by originating ACH debit entries using your institution as its ODFI. 20 of those cable company
customers also have a deposit account at your institution. To debit the accounts of those customers, your
institution originated in-house on-us debit entries for $50 each. In this example, you would report 30 for
$1,500.
12.a Network ACH debit entries received
These are debit entries for which your institution was the RDFI (but not the ODFI), and the debit entry
was cleared through a network operator (i.e., the Federal Reserve or EPN). Please refer to the
General Terminology section above for the definition of “network” entries.
Include:
▪
Network non-offset ACH debit entries received
Do not include:
▪
ACH entries cleared directly between your institution and another (i.e., direct exchange ACH
entries)
► Example: Your customer has set up direct debit of his checking account for a recurring, monthly
cell phone bill payment of $50. His biller, the cell phone company, originated debit entries through
another depository institution (i.e., the ODFI), and your institution received and posted these debit
entries to your customer’s account. In this example, you would report 12 transactions for $600.
12.b In-house on-us ACH debit entries received
These include all ACH debit entries that were not cleared through the Federal Reserve or EPN, for
which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI, and that were originated for the purpose of moving
funds from one account to another at your institution. If your answer is No to item 3 above, please
report “0” here.
Include:
▪
In-house on-us non-offset debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
Do not include:
▪
In-house on-us credits your institution originated
► Example: Your corporate customer, a cable company, collected monthly payments from its
customers by originating ACH debit entries using your institution as its ODFI. 20 of those cable
company customers also have a deposit account at your institution. To debit the accounts of those
customers, your institution originated in-house on-us debit entries for $45 each to avoid clearing fees
from the Federal Reserve or EPN. In this example, you would report 240 transactions for $10,800.
12.c Direct exchange ACH debit entries received
These include all ACH debit entries received and not cleared through the Federal Reserve or EPN.
Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the definition of “Direct Exchange” entries.
Include:
▪
All direct exchange ACH debit entries for which you are the RDFI
21

Do not include:
▪
Debit ACH entries originated
▪
In-house on-us credit entries your institution originated
► Example: A cable company that is not your corporate customer collected monthly payments of
$30 from its customers by originating ACH debit entries using a different institution as its ODFI. 10 of
those customers bank at your institution. Your institution has established direct exchange relationships
with the ODFI to avoid clearing fees from the Federal Reserve or EPN. To debit the accounts of those
customers, your institution received debit entries via direct exchange. Please report 120 transactions
for $3,600.
13.

Total forward ACH debit entries your institution received (RDFI debits) (repeat item 12)
= 13.a + 13.b
Repeat item 12 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and
direct exchange ACH debit entries for which your institution was the ODFI.
Include:
▪
In-house on-us forward debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH debits received
▪
Network on-us debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH debit entries for which you were the RDFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Returns of ACH entries originated by your institution
Network offset ACH debit entries originated
In-house on-us offset ACH debit entries originated
ACH entries received from other institutions
Credit ACH entries received
Addenda records
Zero-dollar entries

14.

Total forward ACH debit entries your institution received (RDFI debits) (repeat item 12)
= 14.a + 14.b
Repeat item 12 above. These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border, network, on-us, and
direct exchange ACH debit entries for which your institution was the RDFI.
Include:
▪
In-house on-us forward debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
Network forward ACH debits received
▪
Network on-us debit entries for which your institution was both the ODFI and RDFI
▪
All direct exchange ACH debit entries for which you were the RDFI
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

► Example: Your corporate customer, a cable company, collected monthly payments of $50 from its 30
customers by originating ACH debit entries using your institution as its ODFI. 20 of those cable company
customers also have a deposit account at your institution. To debit the accounts of those customers, your
institution originated in-house on-us debit entries for $50. In this example, you would report 30 for $1,500.
14.a Same-day settlement
These are debit entries for which your institution was the RDFI, and the payment was settled on the
same day. Please refer to the General Terminology section above for the definition of same-day ACH
entries.
Include:
▪
All ACH debits received and settled same-day, for which your institution was the RDFI
Do not include:
▪
Any ACH debits received and settled non-same-day, for which your institution was the RDFI
► Example: Your corporate customer, Mike’s Hardware, received a one-time bill payment for $2,500
from one of its customers, Sally’s Supplies, through the ACH network. Sally’s Supplies does not bank
with your institution. Since the payment of this bill was urgent, Sally’s Supplies decided to use the
same-day settlement option. In this example, you would report one entry for $2,500.
14.b Non-same-day settlement
These are debit entries for which your institution was the RDFI, and the payment was settled on a later
day after the settlement file was transmitted.
Include:
▪
All ACH debits received and settled non-same-day, for which your institution was the RDFI
Do not include:
▪
Any ACH debits received and settled same-day, for which your institution was the RDFI
► Example: Your customer has set up direct debit of his checking account for a recurring, monthly
cell phone bill payment of $50. His biller, the cell phone company, originated debit entries through
another depository institution (i.e., the ODFI). Your institution received and posted these debit entries to
your customer’s account. The settlement of money occurred on a different day than the transmission of
the file. In this example, you would report 12 transactions for $600.

15.

Third-party fraudulent forward ACH debit entries your institution received (fraudulent
RDFI debits) = 15.a + 15.b
Third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH debit entries that cleared and settled, for which your institution was
the RDFI, and that resulted in a transfer of funds to the ODFI.
Include:
▪
Any fraudulent, third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether or not your accountholder recovered
the funds.
Do not include:
▪
ACH fraud attempts that were prevented before all funds were made available to the ODFI
▪
Returns solely for reason codes R05, R07, R10, R29, or R51 (i.e., verify with your fraud department that
the unauthorized transaction was actual fraud and that the transaction settled with the ODFI)
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit received and authorized by a valid accountholder as part of a scam (first-party
fraud)
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit entries received that cleared and settled, but the funds were frozen and did not
become available to the perpetrator at any time
▪
Fraudulent ACH debit entries originated by your institution, in which another institution was the RDFI
▪
Fraudulent ACH credit entries
► Example 1: A fraudster opened a commercial bank account for a fictitious housecleaning service at
another institution. He then originated unauthorized bill payments for hundreds of consumer accounts, 5 of
which were at your institution. Each of those accounts was debited once for $200. The received debit ACH
transactions cleared and settled with the ODFI. The $1,000 debited from your accountholders was made
available to the fraudster’s account. In this example, you would report 5 transactions for $1,000.
► Example 2: Jim is an accountholder at your institution. He lost his job and has not been able to find
employment in the last six months. His cellphone provider originated an ACH debit transaction for his monthly
bill of $150. The transaction cleared and settled a day later, but Jim claimed the transaction as fraudulent
since he needs the $150 to pay part of his rent. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false
claim of fraud), it should not be included in item 15 above.
15.a Same-day settlement
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH debit entries that cleared and settled on
the same day as the transmission, for which your institution was the RDFI, and that resulted in transfer
of funds to the ODFI. Please report any fraudulent, third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether
or not your accountholder recovered the funds.
Include:
▪
All third-party, fraudulent, ACH debit transactions cleared and settled on the same-day, for which
your institution was the RDFI
► Example: A fraudster opened a commercial bank account for a fictitious gardening company at
another institution and originated unauthorized bill payment for one of your accountholders for $1,000,
using the same-day settlement option. The received debit cleared and settled (on the same day) for
$1,000. In this example, you would report one transaction for $1,000.
15.b Non-same-day settlement
These include only third-party, fraudulent, unauthorized ACH debit entries that settled on a later date
than file transmission, for which your institution was the RDFI, and that resulted in the transfer of funds
to the ODFI. Please report any fraudulent, third-party ACH transactions, regardless of whether or not
your accountholder recovered the funds.
Include:
▪
All third-party, fraudulent, ACH debit transactions cleared and settled non-same-day, for which your
institution was the RDFI
► Example 1: A fraudster opened a commercial bank account for a fictitious house-cleaning service
at another institution and originated unauthorized bill payments for hundreds of consumer accounts.
Five of those accounts were at your institution, and each was debited once for $200 (not on the same
day as the file transmission). The received debit ACH transactions cleared and settled with the ODFI
on a different day. The $1,000 debited from your accountholders was made available to the fraudster’s
account. In this example, you would report five transactions for $1,000.
► Example 2: Jim is an accountholder at your institution. He lost his job and has not been able to
find employment in the last six months. His cellphone provider originated an ACH debit transaction for
his monthly bill of $150. The transaction cleared and settled non-same day, but Jim claimed the
transaction as fraudulent since he needs the $150 to pay part of his rent. Since this transaction is an
example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), you would not include it in item 15.b above.
24

16.

Total ACH outgoing debit returns (i.e., debit return entries your institution originated
including “on-us” debit returns)
These are ACH debit entries that your institution received and were subsequently returned by your institution,
the RDFI.
Include:
▪
All outgoing ACH debit entries that your institution returned unpaid (whether to another institution or to
your own accountholders)
Do not include:
▪

ACH entries returned to your institution unpaid by another institution (incoming)

► Example: Your customer pays his utility bill through the utility company’s website. The utility company’s
bank (which may or may not be your institution) originates a debit ACH entry for $86. However, your
customer’s account has insufficient funds, and your institution returns the ACH entry unpaid. In this example,
you would report 1 transaction for $86.

Wire Transfers Originated (Outgoing)
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution’s U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A transaction deposit or savings account for personal use by an individual or household from which wire payments
can be made.
Business/government account
A transaction deposit or savings account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository
financial institution, or not-for-profit organization) from which wire payments can be made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. This measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party
fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution originate wires on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution
during calendar year 2020 (i.e., correspondent volume)?
If your answer to this question is No, please skip item 1.a below.
1.a

If your answer is “Yes” to item 1 above, are you able to exclude these volumes
from your answers below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
Even if you are unable to exclude these volumes, please report all wires originated by your institution
below.

Did an unaffiliated depository institution originate wires on behalf of your institution
during calendar year 2020?
If your answer to this question is No, please skip item 2.a below.
2.a

If your answer is “Yes” to item 2 above, are you able to include these volumes from
your answers below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
Even if you are unable to include these volumes, please report all wires originated by your institution
below.

Total wire transfer originations (outgoing) = 3.a + 3.b
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border wire transfers originated by your institution’s
U.S. domiciled accountholders with either a domestic or foreign beneficiary.
Include:
▪
Funds transfers originated using the large-value systems (i.e., Fedwire and CHIPS)
▪
Payments that your institution’s accountholders submitted and settled through these systems directly or
through a correspondent (i.e., wire transfers originated on your institution’s behalf by a correspondent)
▪
Book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
▪
All wire transfers originated for the purpose of paying one of your institution’s vendors or settling your
institution’s position with another institution (i.e., settlement/bank business wire transfers)
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers your institution originated on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution (i.e.,
correspondent volume)
► Example: Your institution originated a $15,000 wire transfer on behalf of your corporate customer to pay
its third-party vendor via Fedwire. The vendor may or may not have a depository relationship with your
institution. The vendor may or may not have a U.S. domiciled account. In this example, you would report one
transaction for $15,000.
3.a

Consumer originated wire transfers
All wire transfers originated from consumer accounts of any type at your institution. Please see the
General Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
Wire transfers originated from consumer accounts of any type
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers originated from business/government accounts
▪
Wire transfers your institution originated on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution (i.e.,
correspondent volume)
► Example: Your institution originated a wire transfer for $10,000 on behalf of your consumer
customer to pay his daughter’s college tuition. Your institution originated the wire on behalf of your
customer to the school to fund his daughter’s college tuition via Fedwire. The school may or may not
have a depository relationship with your institution. The school may or may not have a U.S. domiciled
account. In this example, you would report one transaction for $10,000.

3.b

Business/government originated wire transfers
Wire transfers originated from business/government (including non-depository financial institutions)
accounts of any type at your institution. Please include small business accounts under
business/government accounts. Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition
of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
Wire transfers originated from business/government accounts
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers originated from consumer accounts of any type
▪
Wire transfers your institution originated on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution (i.e.,
correspondent volume)
► Example: Your corporate customer made three wire transfers of $25,000 each through your
institution’s wire platform to pay his suppliers. The vendor may or may not have a depository
relationship with your institution. And the vendor may or may not have a U.S. domiciled account. In this
example, you would report three wire transactions for $75,000.

Total wire transfer originations (outgoing) (repeat item 3) = 4.a + 4.b
Repeat item 3 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border wire transfers
originated by your institution’s U.S. domiciled accountholders with either a domestic or foreign beneficiary.
Include:
▪
Funds transfers originated using the large-value systems (i.e., Fedwire and CHIPS)
▪
Payments that your institution’s accountholders submitted and settled through these systems directly or
through a correspondent (i.e., wire transfers originated on your institution’s behalf by a correspondent)
▪
Book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
▪
All wire transfers originated for the purpose of paying one of your institution’s vendors or settling your
institution’s position with another institution (i.e., settlement/bank business wire transfers)
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers your institution originated on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution (i.e.,
correspondent volume)
► Example: Your institution originated a $15,000 wire transfer on behalf of your corporate customer to pay
its third-party vendor via Fedwire. The vendor may or may not have a depository relationship with your
institution. The vendor may or may not have a U.S. domiciled account. In this example, you would report 1
transaction for $15,000.
4.a

Domestic (U.S.) payee
These include all wire transfers originated by your institution’s U.S. domiciled accountholders (i.e., those
accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories) to a domestic beneficiary.
Include:
▪
Wire transfers sent to a domestic (U.S) payee
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers sent to a foreign payee
► Example: Your institution originated a wire transfer for $10,000 on behalf of your New York based
corporate customer to pay its third-party vendor, also located in New York, via Fedwire. Your client is a
U.S. domiciled accountholder. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $10,000.

4.b

Foreign payee
These include all wire transfers originated by your institution’s U.S. domiciled accountholders to a
foreign beneficiary.
Include:
▪
Wire transfers sent to a foreign payee
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers sent to a domestic (U.S) payee
► Example: Your institution originated a wire transfer for $10,000 on behalf of your New York based
corporate customer to pay its third-party vendor, located in Spain, via Fedwire. Your client is a U.S.
domiciled accountholder. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $10,000.

Total wire transfer originations (outgoing) (repeat item 3) = 5.a + 5.b
Repeat item 3 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border wire transfers
originated by your institution’s U.S. domiciled accountholders with either a domestic or foreign beneficiary,
sent through a network/correspondent bank or book transfers.
Include:
▪
Funds transfers originated using the large-value systems (i.e., Fedwire and CHIPS)
▪
Payments that your institution’s accountholders submitted and settled through these systems directly or
through a correspondent (i.e., wire transfers originated on your institution’s behalf by a correspondent)
▪
Book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
▪
All wire transfers originated for the purpose of paying one of your institution’s vendors or settling your
institution’s position with another institution (i.e., settlement/bank business wire transfers)
Do not include:
▪
Wire transfers your institution originated on behalf of an unaffiliated depository institution (i.e.,
correspondent volume)
► Example: Your institution originated a $15,000 wire transfer on behalf of your corporate customer to pay
its third-party vendor via Fedwire. The vendor may or may not have a depository relationship with your
institution. The vendor may or may not have a U.S. domiciled account. In this example, you would report 1
transaction for $15,000.
5.a

Sent through a network (i.e., Fedwire or CHIPS) or a correspondent bank
These are wire transfers sent through a network (i.e., Fedwire or CHIPS) or a correspondent bank
Include:
▪
All wire transfers sent through a network (i.e., Fedwire or CHIPS) or a correspondent bank
Do not include:
▪
Book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
► Example: Your institution originated a wire transfer for $10,000 on behalf of your corporate
customer to pay its third-party vendor via Fedwire. The vendor does not have a depository relationship
with your institution. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $10,000.

5.b

Book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
These are internal wire transfers that were made using your wire platform. These are sometimes
referred to as book transfers.
Include:
▪
All internal wire transfers that were made using your wire platform
Do not include:
▪
Wires that are sent through a network (i.e., Fedwire or CHIPS) or a correspondent bank
► Example: Your corporate customer has multiple accounts at your institution, and your institution
allows this customer to transfer money among these accounts as a service. These wires are sent over
your internal wire platform rather than over a network. Your customer made a wire transfer of $25,000
through your institution’s wire platform for this purpose. In this example, you would report 1 wire
transaction for $25,000.

Third-party fraudulent wire transfer originations
These include all third-party fraudulent unauthorized wire transfer originations that subsequently cleared and
settled. Please report any third-party fraudulent wire originations, regardless of whether those funds were
subsequently recovered through the wire return process or by other means.
Include:
▪
Fraudulent funds transfers originated using the large-value systems (i.e., Fedwire and CHIPS), including
those originated on your institution’s behalf by a correspondent
▪
Fraudulent book transfers (i.e., internal transfers using your institution’s wire platform)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Fraud originations that were prevented
Fraudulent wire transfers received by your institution
Fraud committed by a valid accountholder (first-party fraud)
Wire transfers originated and authorized by a valid accountholder as part of a scam

► Example 1: A small business accountholder at your institution originated a wire payment through your
online portal. His PC was compromised by malware, and his login credentials were stolen. The perpetrator
originated a wire for $5,000 to an account at your institution and a wire for $10,000 to an account at another
institution, both of which accounts were maintained under a false name. The transactions cleared and settled,
and the funds became available to the perpetrator. One day later, the same perpetrator attempted to initiate
another wire payment of $5,000 to an account at your institution. The small business accountholder had
already alerted your institution to the previous fraud, so your institution put a hold on the account and these
funds were never made available to the perpetrator. In this example, you would report 2 transactions for
$15,000.
► Example 2: Jennifer, a small business accountholder at your institution, originated a wire payment of
$40,000 to her brother through your online portal. After a heated conversation with her brother, Jennifer
decided to recover the money that had been transferred to him. She opened a fraudulent claim with your
institution, stating that her brother had logged in to her account and made the wire transfer to his account
without her consent. Your institution was able to verify that this was a false, fraudulent claim and that there
was no wrongdoing in the transfer of funds. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false
claim of fraud), it should not be included in item 6 above.

Debit Cards
Note: For brevity, we will refer to “non-prepaid debit cards” as “debit cards” and “prepaid debit cards” as “prepaid
cards” in the glossary and the questionnaire. This section covers debit card payments from typical transaction or
“checking” accounts, and excludes payments from prepaid card accounts (covered in the ‘General-Purpose Prepaid
Cards’ section).

GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution’s U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Debit card transactions
Debit card transactions is the portion of debit card transactions associated with transaction accounts reported in the
Institution Profile section of this survey, but not associated with prepaid debit card accounts (reported in the next
section). Includes all transactions made with debit cards via any debit card network (details below). Most debit cards
are capable of being processed through a dual-message network as well as one or more single-message networks.
Includes cash-back transactions at the point of sale, but does not include cash withdrawals (typically from an
automated teller machine (ATM) or over the counter at a bank branch). Transactions may originate, for example, at a
physical point of sale, via telephone, or via the internet. For this study, please follow these guidelines:
Debit card transactions include…
▪

▪

Debit card transactions do not include…

Transactions made with Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, or American
Express branded cards and cleared over
dual-message networks. These are
typically called signature-based or offline
debit card transactions.
Transactions made with debit cards and
cleared over a general-purpose singlemessage network. Transactions
originated in other countries with debit
cards issued from U.S. domiciled
accounts
Debit card cash-back transactions at the
point of sale

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

▪

ATM withdrawals
Credit card transactions
Prepaid card transactions
Transfers by a corporate customer to fund
its employees’ payroll card accounts
Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card
transactions made using a proprietary
network (e.g., Quest network) for that
purpose
Payroll card transactions by the
cardholder

Digital Wallet
All debit card transactions made using a digital wallet in which users can complete purchases using near-field
communication (NFC) that works in conjunction with mobile payment systems, MST (magnetic secure transmission)
transactions, QR code transactions, barcode transactions, in-app transactions, or browser transactions. Digital
wallets can be used for in-person transactions or remote transactions. In-person transactions require the payment
holder to be present to use their digital wallet, while remote transactions are used during e-commerce sales in which
the authorization and transaction processes are not physically close to each other.
Digital wallet transactions include those made by using electronic devices, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or
activity tracker, by “tapping” the device at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay,
Masterpass).
They also include tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customer’s payment credentials saved in a
virtual account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When making a
purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to process payments. This
can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to make a purchase with a browser or inapp (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express Checkout).

Virtual Card
Virtual cards are used for online or over the phone purchases and do not require the accountholder to have a
physical card. Virtual cards may provide greater security than a physical card because they use a unique card
number, expiration date, and security code that is only valid at specific merchants or for a specific amount of time.
Contactless Card
A contactless card payment is a secure method for customers to purchase products or services via debit smartcards
(also known as chip cards) using RFID technology. To make a contactless payment, the user simply tap his or her
debit card near a POS terminal (an action sometimes referred to as “tap-and-go” or “tap-and-pay”).
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A transaction deposit or savings account for personal use by an individual or household from which payments can be
made.
Business/government account
A transaction deposit or savings account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository
financial institution, or not-for-profit organization) from which payments can be made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. This measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party
fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution have debit cards in circulation in 2020 for which your institution was
the issuer?
These include cards issued by your institution, including those that your institution issued, that are managed
by a third-party, and that route transactions over a general-use debit card network. If your answer to this
question is No, please report “0” for all items below.
Include:
▪
Debit cards associated with transaction deposit accounts reported in the Institution Profile section
▪
Debit cards (not including prepaid cards) that can be used to make purchases at the point of sale
Do not include:
▪
ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, or EBT cards
1.a

If your answer is “Yes” to item 1 above, are you able to exclude general-purpose
prepaid cards from all items below?
General-purpose prepaid card (including payroll card) transactions should only be included in the
volumes reported in the General-Purpose Prepaid Cards section of the questionnaire.
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
If your answer is No, please report the combined volumes of debit card transactions and generalpurpose prepaid card transactions for all items below, and explain in the comments box at the end of
this section.

Did your institution have virtual debit cards in circulation in 2020 for which your
institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of virtual cards. If your answer is Yes,
please include the number of virtual debit card transactions for all volume items below, but do not include
virtual cards in the number of physical cards in item 3 and its subsets below.
Include:
▪
Virtual debit cards associated with transaction deposit accounts reported in the Institution Profile section
Do not include:
▪
ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards or EBT cards

Number of physical debit cards = 3.a + 3.b
Report debit cards associated with transaction deposit accounts reported in the Institution Profile section.
For cards in force report only debit cards that can be used at the point of sale, were issued by your institution,
activated by your institution’s accountholders, have not expired at the end of a month, and draw on the
transaction deposit accounts reported in item 1 in the Institution Profile section.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Debit cards associated with both consumer and business/government transaction deposit accounts
reported in the Institution Profile section
▪
Debit cards (not including prepaid cards) that can be used to make purchases at the point of sale
Do not include:
▪
Virtual cards, ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, or EBT cards
► Example: Your institution has 500 consumer and business banking accounts, with 500 debit cards issued
that are related to these accounts at the end of January. Of these debit cards, 450 cards have been activated
and are not expired, 30 cards have not been activated yet, and 20 cards have been activated but are now
expired. In this example, you would report 450 debit cards in force for January. Repeat this calculation for
every month and then average the total across 12 months.
3.a

Consumer cards
These include all debit cards that draw on consumer accounts. Please see the General Terminology
section above for the definition of consumer accounts.

Include:
▪
Debit cards associated with consumer transaction deposit accounts reported in the Institution
Profile section
▪
Consumer debit cards (not including prepaid cards) that can be used to make purchases at the
point of sale
Do not include:
▪
Virtual cards, ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, EBT cards, or any type of business card
► Example: Your institution has 500 personal banking accounts, with 500 debit cards issued that are
related to these accounts at the end of January. Of these debit cards, 450 cards have been activated
and are not expired, 30 cards have not been activated yet, and 20 cards have been activated but are
now expired. In this example, you would report 450 consumer debit cards in force for January. Repeat
this calculation for every month and then average the total across 12 months.
3.b

Business/government cards
These include all debit cards that draw on business/government accounts. Please see the General
Terminology section above for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
Debit cards associated with business/government transaction deposit accounts reported in the
Institution Profile section
Do not include:
▪
Virtual cards, ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, EBT cards, or any type of consumer
card
► Example: Your institution has 1,000 business banking accounts, with 1,000 debit cards issued that
are related to these accounts at the end of January. Of these debit cards, 900 cards have been
activated and are not expired, 70 cards have not been activated yet, and 30 cards have been activated
but are now expired. In this example, you would report 900 business debit cards in force for January.
Repeat this calculation for every month and then average the total across 12 months.

Total debit card transactions = 4.a + 4.b
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border transactions over any debit card network for
which your institution was the issuer. Include all point-of-sale or bill-pay transactions made by debit cards
processed over either signature payment card networks or PIN payment card networks. If your answer is No
to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Both consumer and business/government debit card transactions
▪
Both in-person and remote debit card transactions
▪
Debit card cash-back transactions at the point of sale
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Cash withdrawals over the counter
ATM withdrawals
Prepaid card transactions
Credit card transactions

► Example: Your customer bought $30 of groceries and received $20 cash back with her debit card by
entering her PIN at the checkout line, for a transaction total of $50. Later that day, she used the same debit
card issued by your institution to purchase a $70 purse online. In this example, you would report two
transactions for $120.
4.a

From consumer accounts
These include all transactions made by consumer accountholders over any debit card network for which
your institution was the issuer. Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of
consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
Consumer in-person and remote debit card transactions
▪
Debit card cash-back transactions at the point of sale by consumer accountholders
Do not include:
▪

Debit card transactions made by business/government accountholders

► Example: Tom used his debit card issued by your institution to buy a $40 pair of jeans. Later that
day, he used his debit card at the ATM to withdraw $500. In this example, you would report one
transaction for $40.
34

4.b

From business/government accounts
These include all transactions made by business/government accountholders over any debit card
network for which your institution was the issuer. Please see the General Terminology section above
for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
Business/government in-person and remote debit card transactions
▪
Debit card cash-back transactions at the point of sale by business/government accountholders
Do not include:
▪
Debit card transactions made by consumer accountholders
► Example: Your corporate accountholder made a purchase of $500 with a corporate debit card
issued by your institution. Later that day, he withdrew $200 in cash over the counter at one of your
branch locations using the same debit card. In this example, you would report one transaction for $500.

Total debit card transactions (repeat item 4) = 5.a + 5.b
Repeat item 4 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border transactions over any
debit card network for which your institution was the issuer. Include all POS or bill-pay transactions made by
debit cards processed over either signature payment card networks or PIN payment card networks. If your
answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
Include:
▪
Both consumer and business/government debit card transactions
▪
Both in-person and remote debit card transactions
▪
Debit card cash-back transactions at the point of sale
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Cash withdrawals over the counter
ATM withdrawals
Prepaid card transactions
Credit card transactions

► Example 1: Your customer bought $50 of groceries with her debit card by entering her PIN at the
checkout line. Later that day, she used the same debit card issued by your institution to purchase a $70 purse
online. In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $120.
► Example 2: In quarter 1, your customer completed 2 transactions with her debit card for a total of $120 in
January, 4 transactions with her debit card for a total of $120 in February, and 2 transactions with her debit
card for a total of $100 in March. In this example, you would report 8 transactions for $340 in quarter 1.
Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable months (outlined above). To calculate the
total transactions for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the total of all 12 months.
5.a

In-person transactions
These include all debit card transactions for which the card user is physically present with the card at
the point of sale.
Include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
Do not include:
▪
Remote transactions
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser transactions
► Example: Your customer bought a coat for $100 with his debit card by entering his PIN at the
checkout line. Later that day, he bought a $40 train ticket with his debit card with his digital wallet
(Apple Pay) at the checkout. For this example, you would report 2 transactions for $140.
35

5.b

Remote transactions
These include all debit card transactions for which the card user does not physically present the card to
authorize the transaction, including mail-order transactions, telephone-order transactions, and internet
transactions. Please report the total transactions with either a domestic or foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Remote debit card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order transactions)
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser debit card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
Do not include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
► Example: Your customer purchased a $500 item on a German internet website with his debit card
by entering his debit card number, name, and address. He then proceeded to buy a $65 pair of shoes
from a U.S.-based store in a mobile application not at the point of sale, paying with the same debit card
with his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $565.

Third-party fraudulent debit card transactions = 6.a + 6.b
These include all third-party unauthorized debit card transactions, before any recoveries or chargebacks, for
which your institution was the card issuer. Please report any fraudulent third-party debit card transactions,
regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please
report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Debit card transactions that were not authorized by a valid card user (third-party fraud)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Fraud prevented by declining a transaction
Fraud committed by a valid card user (first-party fraud)
Fraudulent credit card transactions
Fraudulent prepaid card transactions
Fraudulent ATM withdrawals
Debit card transactions authorized by a valid card user as part of a scam

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s debit card issued by your institution was stolen. The perpetrator used
the card to make one purchase worth $1,000, which was authorized at the point of sale. The perpetrator
attempted to make another purchase worth $500 the next day. Your accountholder had already alerted your
institution to the previous fraudulent activity and a hold had been put on her account, so the perpetrator never
received funds from the second attempt. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $1,000.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that her debit card was stolen and used to purchase a $500 TV
in an electronics store. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder made
this purchase on her card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), it
should not be included in item 6 above.
6.a

In-person transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent debit card transactions for which the card user is physically
present at the merchant location when card data are acquired. Include digital wallet (Apple Pay,
Samsung Pay) transactions at the point of sale only. Please report the total transactions using aPIN
and without a PIN.
Include:
▪
In-person fraudulent transactions
Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent remote debit card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions)
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser debit card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
► Example 1: Your accountholder’s debit card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to make
two purchases totaling $1,000 online. He then bought lunch for $35 at a restaurant using the stolen
card. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $35.

► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that her debit card was stolen and used to purchase a
$500 TV in an electronics store. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your
accountholder made this purchase on her card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud
(false claim of fraud), it should not be included in item 6.a above.
6.b

Remote transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent debit card transactions for which the card user does not
physically present the card to authorize the transaction. Please report any fraudulent third-party debit
card transactions, regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds. Please report the
total transactions with either a domestic or foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Fraudulent remote debit card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions)
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser debit card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
Do not include:
▪
In-person fraudulent transactions
▪
Fraudulent in-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using
near-field communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
Fraudulent in-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or
stickers)
▪
Fraudulent in-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
Fraudulent in-person card-not-present (i.e., key-entered transactions)
► Example 1: Your accountholder’s debit card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to
purchase a TV for $500 at a store by fraudulently signing the receipt. He then proceeded to use the
stolen card to buy an item online for $250. Both transactions were authorized. In this example, you
would report 1 transaction for $250.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that his debit card was stolen and used to purchase a
$20 video game online. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder
made this purchase on his card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of
fraud), it should not be included in item 6.b above.

Did your institution have contactless debit cards in circulation in 2020 for which your
institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of contactless cards.
Include:
▪
Contactless debit cards (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers) associated with transaction
deposit accounts reported in the Institution Profile section
Do not include:
▪
ATM-only cards, prepaid cards, credit cards, or EBT cards
7.a

If your answer is “Yes” to item 7 above, are you able to exclude contactless card
volumes in your answers to item 9 and its subsets below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
If your answer is No, please report the combined debit card contactless and digital wallet accounts (and
associated transactions) for item 8 and its subsets (and item 9 and its subsets) below, and explain in
the comments box at the end of this section.

Number of active debit card digital wallet accounts
(Average of monthly totals in 2020)
New active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed for the first time within a month.
All active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed within a month.
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of digital wallet. If your answer is No to
item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
37

► Example: Your institution had 100 digital wallet accounts in January from which at least one value
transaction was completed. For 10 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via digital
wallet for the first time. Your institution had 120 digital wallet accounts in February from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 35 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. Your institution had 170 digital wallet accounts in March from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 30 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. In this example, you would report 25 new active digital wallet accounts, and 130
active digital wallet accounts in quarter 1. Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable
months (outlined above). To calculate the active users for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the
average of all 12 months.
9.

Total debit card digital wallet transactions = 9.a + 9.b
These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border debit card transactions made via a digital wallet,
including tokenized digital wallet. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Digital wallet debit card transactions made by using electronic devices, such as a smartphone, smart
watch, or activity tracker, by “tapping” the device at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay,
Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, Masterpass)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet debit card transactions made by using customer’s payment credentials saved in a
virtual account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When
making a purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to
process payments. This can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to
make a purchase with a browser or in-app (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout,
Amex Express Checkout)
▪
Digital wallet debit card NFC (near-field communication) transactions, MST (magnetic secure
transmission) transactions, QR code transactions, barcode transactions, in-app transactions, or browser
transactions
Do not include:
▪
Debit card-on-file e-commerce transactions (cardholder-initiated or merchant-initiated) (i.e., installment
payment)
▪
Transactions made via contactless cards (i.e., “tap and pay”)
► Example: Your customer bought lunch for $10 with his debit card, which was loaded into his digital wallet
(Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for lunch, using NFC technology. He
then ordered a $30 dinner in a mobile application, paying with the same debit card via his digital wallet (Apple
Pay). In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $40.
9.a

In-person transactions
These include debit card transactions for which an electronic device, such as a smartphone, smart
watch, or activity tracker, was “tapped” to pay at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay,
Google Pay, Fitbit Pay).
Include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
Do not include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customer’s payment credentials saved in
a virtual account (e.g., Apply Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
► Example: Your customer bought lunch for $15 with his debit card, which was loaded into his digital
wallet (Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for lunch, using NFC
technology. He then bought groceries for $100 with his debit card by tapping his card on the POS
device. In this example, you would report one transaction for $15.

9.b

Remote transactions
These include debit card in-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet.
Browser transactions include both digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) and
third-party tokenized digital wallets (e.g., PayPal, Amazon Pay, Square Restaurants, Visa Checkout,
Masterpass).

Include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customer’s payment credentials saved in a
virtual account (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
Do not include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
► Example: Your customer purchased a $500 item on an internet website with his debit card by
entering his debit card number, name, and address. He then bought a $65 pair of shoes in a mobile
application, paying with the same debit card via his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you
would report 1 transaction for $65.
10.

Total debit card cash-back transactions at point of sale
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border debit card transactions for which your
institution was the card issuer and in which the accountholders received cash back at the point of sale. These
include both signature-based cash-back and PIN-based cash-back transactions. For cash-back value, only
include the amount of cash your card users received at the point of sale. If your answer is No to item 1 above,
please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Debit card cash-back transactions at the point of sale. For value, only include the amount of cash
received at the point of sale
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Prepaid card cash-back transactions
Credit card cash-advance transactions
ATM withdrawals
The amount paid for goods and services

► Example: Your customer used her debit card at the grocery store to purchase $50 of food. She entered
her PIN to authorize the transaction and also requested $20 cash back. In this example, you would report 1
transaction for $20.

General-Purpose Prepaid Cards
Note: For brevity, we will refer to “non-prepaid debit card” as “debit card” and “prepaid debit card” as “prepaid card”
in this glossary.

GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution’s U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Prepaid card transactions
Prepaid card transactions is the portion of debit card transactions associated with prepaid debit card accounts
(defined below) but not with transaction accounts reported in the Institution Profile section of this survey. Include all
transactions made with network-branded prepaid “open-loop” prepaid cards. Most prepaid cards are capable of
being processed through a dual-message network as well as one or more single-message networks. Includes cashback transactions at the point of sale, but does not include cash withdrawals (typically from an automated teller
machine (ATM) or over the counter at a bank branch). Transactions may originate, for example, at a physical point of
sale, via telephone, or via the Internet. For this study, please follow these guidelines:
Prepaid card transactions include…
▪

▪

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Prepaid card transactions do not
include…

Transactions made with Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, or American
Express branded prepaid cards and
cleared over dual-message networks
Transactions made with prepaid cards
and cleared over a general-purpose,
single-message network. Transactions
made in other countries with prepaid
cards issued from U.S. domiciled
accounts
Open-loop general-purpose prepaid card
transactions
Open-loop gift card transactions
Payroll card transactions by the
cardholder
FSA/HSA prepaid cards
Customer refund and incentive prepaid
cards
Prepaid card cash-back transactions at
the point of sale

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Closed-loop prepaid card transactions
ATM withdrawals
Debit card transactions
Credit card transactions
Transfers by a corporate customer to fund
its employees’ payroll card accounts
Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card
transactions made using a proprietary
network (e.g., Quest network) for that
purpose

They also include tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customers’ payment credentials saved in a
virtual account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When making a
purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to process payments. This
can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to make a purchase with a browser or inapp (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express Checkout).
General-purpose prepaid cards
These network-branded cards are typically, but not necessarily, consumer-funded and can be used at the point of
sale, for bill-pay transactions, or to withdraw cash from an ATM. These cards are often marketed to underbanked
consumers as a checking account alternative.
Virtual Card
Virtual cards are used for online or over the phone purchases and do not require the accountholder to have a
physical card. Virtual cards may provide greater security than a physical card because they use a unique card
number, expiration date, and security code that is only valid at specific merchants or for a specific amount of time.
Contactless Card
A contactless card payment is a secure method for customers to purchase products or services via prepaid
smartcards (also known as chip cards) using RFID technology. To make a contactless payment, the user simply tap
his or her prepaid card near a POS terminal (an action sometimes referred to as “tap-and-go” or “tap-and-pay”).
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A prepaid account for personal use by an individual or household from which payments can be made or to withdraw
cash from an ATM.
Business/government account
A prepaid account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository financial institutions, or notfor-profit organization) from which payments can be made or to withdraw cash from an ATM.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Open-loop prepaid cards
Network branded general-purpose prepaid cards (i.e., Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) which can
be used at any point of sale or for bill-pay transactions were the network is accepted. Unlike a debit card, a prepaid
card is not linked to a bank account.
Note: If your institution reports on behalf of an EFT network, please include only prepaid card transactions that carry
your network brand. Do not include reciprocal or gateway transactions that are not routed on your brand.
Any fees charged to the cards (e.g., monthly transaction fees) are not considered to be transactions and should be
excluded.
Closed-loop prepaid cards
Closed-loop prepaid cards are excluded from this survey. Include only transactions with open-loop prepaid cards in
this survey.
Closed-loop prepaid cards can only be used at certain merchant(s); these are non-network prepaid cards. Closedloop prepaid cards are also referred as “store cards” (e.g., Old Navy gift card, Home Depot gift card) and operate
between the merchant and the issuer without the use of a network.
Reloadable prepaid cards
Open-loop or closed-loop prepaid card to which funds can be added at a later time after the initial purchase of the
card.
Note: Any fees charged to the cards (e.g., monthly fees, dormancy fees) are not considered to be transactions and
should be excluded.

Gift cards
Prepaid cards that are marketed as gift-giving alternatives to cash, checks, and gift certificates or as loyalty cards
with payment capabilities. Include non-reloadable network-branded general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards in
reported totals. Do not include closed-loop prepaid cards that are typically merchant or shopping center branded.
Payroll cards
Reloadable, prepaid “ATM” cards issued to disburse employee wages; typically marketed as a means to replace
paper check or cash wages to unbanked employees.
Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) medical cards
Reloadable, network-branded prepaid medical cards used for health care costs referred to as “qualified expenses,”
including deductibles, copayments and coinsurance, and monthly prescription transactions. HSA contributions are
tax-deductible but can also be taken out of pretax pay. FSA contributions are pretax, and distributions are untaxed.
Both medical cards are typically used to save money on medical expenses.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. This measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party
fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution offer its customers general-purpose prepaid cards issued by another
financial institution during calendar year 2020?
General-purpose prepaid cards include but are not limited to: payroll prepaid cards, open-loop gift cards,
government-administered open-loop prepaid cards, FSA/HSA medical cards, and open-loop customer refund
and incentive cards. If your answer to this question is Yes, please do not include these cards (or associated
transactions) in your answers below.

Did your institution have general-purpose prepaid cards in circulation in 2020 for which
your institution was the issuer?
Cards issued for prepaid card programs managed by your institution or managed by a third-party for which
your institution was the issuer and that route transactions over a debit card network. If your answer to this
question is No, please report “0” for the remainder of this section and skip question 2.a.
Include:
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop non-reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Open-loop gift cards
▪
Payroll prepaid cards
▪
FSA/HSA medical cards
▪
Government-administered general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards
▪
Open-loop customer refund and incentive cards
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
2.a

not include:
Closed-loop prepaid cards (i.e., prepaid cards that do not route transactions over a debit card network)
Debit cards
ATM or ATM-only cards
Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards
Credit cards
If your answer is “Yes” to item 2 above, are you able to include
business/government prepaid card volumes in your answers below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
Even if your answer is “No”, please report your data for all items below and explain in the comment box
at the end of this section.

Did your institution have virtual general-purpose prepaid cards in circulation in 2020 for
which your institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of virtual cards. If your answer is Yes,
please include the number of virtual general-purpose prepaid card transactions and accounts for all items
below, but do not include virtual cards in the number of physical cards in item 5 below.
Include:
▪
Virtual consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Virtual consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop non-reloadable prepaid cards
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Total general-purpose prepaid card program accounts
These are accounts for both reloadable and non-reloadable open-loop prepaid cards for which your institution
was the issuer. Your customer may or may not be able to add additional funds to this card after it has been
issued and use these funds to shop, transfer money, or pay bills. If your answer is No to item 2 above, please
report “0” here.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
Include:
▪
General-purpose prepaid card programs managed by both your institution and a third-party
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop reloadable prepaid card accounts
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop non-reloadable prepaid card accounts
▪
Open-loop gift card accounts
▪
Payroll prepaid card accounts
▪
FSA/HSA medical card accounts
▪
Government-administered general-purpose open-loop prepaid card accounts
▪
Customer refund and incentive card accounts
▪

Consumer and business/government virtual general-purpose prepaid card program accounts

Do not include:
▪
Closed-loop prepaid card program accounts (i.e., prepaid cards that don't route transactions over a debit
card network)
▪
Debit card accounts
▪
ATM or ATM-only card accounts
▪
Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card accounts
▪
Credit card accounts
► Example: John has an open-loop prepaid card issued by your institution that he reloads every month for
his grocery shopping. His prepaid card account contains an additional prepaid card used by his spouse. In
this example, you would report one general-purpose prepaid card account with its respective average end-ofmonth balance.
5.

Number of physical general-purpose prepaid cards
These are all general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards that can be used at the point of sale that were issued
by your institution, drawn on prepaid card program accounts listed in item 4 above, and in force at the end of
the month. Please report average monthly totals for both reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards for
which your institution was the issuer. If your answer is No to item 2 above, please report “0” here.
For cards in force, report only physical general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards that had been issued by
your institution, activated by your institution’s accountholders, and had not expired at the end of a month.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
Include:
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop non-reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Payroll prepaid cards
▪
Government-administered general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards
▪
Open-loop gift cards
▪
FSA/HSA medical cards
▪
Customer refund and incentive cards
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

► Example: Your institution has 500 consumer and business general-purpose open-loop prepaid accounts,
with 600 prepaid cards issued at the end of January that are related to these accounts. Of these prepaid
cards, 450 cards have been activated and are not expired, 130 cards have not been activated yet, and 20
cards have been activated but are now expired. In this example, you would report 450 prepaid cards in force
for January. Repeat this calculation for every month and then average the total across 12 months.
6.

Total general-purpose prepaid card transactions = 6.a + 6.b
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border transactions over any prepaid card network
for which your institution was the issuer. Include all POS or bill-pay transactions made by prepaid cards
processed over either signature payment card networks or PIN payment card networks. If your answer is No
to item 2 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
Include:
▪
Both consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop prepaid card transactions
▪
Payroll prepaid card transactions
▪
Government-administered general-purpose open-loop prepaid card transactions
▪
Open-loop gift card transactions
▪
FSA/HSA medical card transactions
▪
Customer refund and incentive card transactions
▪
Cash-back transactions at the point of sale (i.e., amount of cash received at the point of sale)
44

Do not include:
▪
Closed-loop prepaid card transactions (i.e., prepaid cards that don't route transactions over a debit card
network)
▪
ATM withdrawals
▪
Debit card transactions
▪
Credit card transactions
► Example 1: Your customer bought $30 of groceries and received $20 cash back with her prepaid card by
entering her PIN at the checkout line, for a transaction total of $50. Later that day, she used the same prepaid
card issued by your institution to purchase a $70 jacket at a department store. In this example, you would
report 2 transactions for $120.
► Example 2: In quarter 1, your customer completed 2 transactions with her prepaid card for a total of
$120 in January, 4 transactions with her prepaid card for a total of $120 in February, and 2 transactions with
her prepaid card for a total of $100 in March. In this example, you would report 8 transactions for $340 in
quarter 1. Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable months (outlined above). To
calculate the total transactions for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the total of all 12 months.
6.a

In-person transactions
These include all general-purpose prepaid card transactions for which the card user is physically
present with the card at the point of sale. Include digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung
Pay) transactions at the point of sale only. Please report the total transactions using PIN authentication
and without PIN.
Include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
Do not include:
▪
Remote transactions
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser transactions
► Example: Your customer bought a coat for $100 with his prepaid card by entering his PIN at the
checkout line. Later that day, he bought a $40 train ticket with his prepaid card with his digital wallet
(Apple Pay) at the checkout. For this example, you would report 2 transactions for $140.

6.b

Remote transactions
These include all general-purpose prepaid card transactions for which the card user does not physically
present the card to authorize the transaction, including mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions, and internet transactions. Please report the total transactions with either a domestic or
foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Remote prepaid card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order transactions)
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser prepaid card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
Do not include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
► Example: Your prepaid cardholder purchased a $500 item on a German internet website with
hisprepaid card by entering his prepaid card number, name, and address. He then proceeded to buy
a $65 pair of shoes from a U.S.-based store in a mobile application not at the point of sale, paying
withthe same prepaid card with his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you would report 2
transactions for $565.

Third-party fraudulent general-purpose prepaid card transactions = 7.a + 7.b
These include all third-party unauthorized prepaid card transactions, before any recoveries or chargebacks, for
which your institution was the card issuer. Please report any fraudulent third-party prepaid card transactions,
regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds. If your answer is No to item 2 above, please
report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Prepaid card transactions that were not authorized by a valid card user (third-party fraud)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Fraud prevented by declining a transaction
Fraud committed by a valid card user (first-party fraud)
Fraudulent credit card transactions
Fraudulent debit card transactions
Fraudulent ATM withdrawals
Prepaid card transactions authorized by a valid card user as part of a scam

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s prepaid card issued by your institution was stolen. The perpetrator
used the card to make one purchase worth $50. The perpetrator attempted to make another purchase worth
$75 the next day. Your accountholder had already alerted your institution to the previous fraudulent activity
and a hold had been put on her account, so the perpetrator never received funds from the second attempt. In
this example, you would report 2 transaction for $50.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that her prepaid card was stolen and used to purchase a $200
TV in an electronics store. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder
made this purchase on her card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud),
it should not be included in item 7 above.
7.a

In-person transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent general-purpose prepaid card transactions for which the card
user is physically present with the card at the point of sale. Include digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay,
Google Pay, Samsung Pay) transactions at the point of sale only. Include all third-party unauthorized
prepaid card transactions, before any recoveries or chargebacks. Please report any fraudulent thirdparty prepaid card transactions, regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a lossof funds. Please
report the total transactions with PIN authentication and without PIN authentication.
Include:
▪
In-person fraudulent transactions
▪
Fraudulent in-person contactless prepaid card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” with a prepaid card)
▪
Fraudulent in-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using
near-field communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
Fraudulent in-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
Fraudulent in-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent remote prepaid card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions)
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser prepaid card transactions (e.g., e-commerce
transactions)
► Example 1: Your accountholder’s prepaid card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to
make two online purchases totaling $100 over the internet. He then bought lunch for $35 at a
restaurant using the stolen card. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $35.
► Example 2: Your accountholder registered her prepaid card online and later claimed that her
prepaid card was stolen and used to purchase a $500 TV in an electronics store. An investigation by
your institution determined that in fact your accountholder made this purchase on her card. Since this
transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), it should not be included in item 7.a
above.

7.b

Remote transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent general-purpose prepaid card transactions for which the card
user does not physically present the card to authorize the transaction, including mail-order transactions,
telephone-order transactions, and internet transactions. Include all third-party unauthorized prepaid
card transactions, before any recoveries or chargebacks. Please report any fraudulent third-party
prepaid card transactions, regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds. Please
report the total transactions with either a domestic or foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Fraudulent remote prepaid card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions)
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser prepaid card transactions (e.g., e-commerce
transactions)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
In-person fraudulent transactions
Fraudulent in-person contactless prepaid card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” with a prepaid card)
Fraudulent in-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using
near-field communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
Fraudulent in-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
Fraudulent in-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s prepaid card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to
purchase a TV for $500 at a store by fraudulently signing the receipt. He then proceeded to use the
stolen card to buy an item online for $250. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $250.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that his prepaid card was stolen and used to purchase a
$20 video game online. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder
made this purchase on his card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of
fraud), it should not be included in item 7.b above.
8.

Did your institution have contactless general-purpose prepaid cards in circulation in
2020 for which your institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of contactless cards.
Include:
▪
Contactless prepaid cards (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
Contactless consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop reloadable prepaid cards
▪
Contactless consumer and business/government general-purpose open-loop non-reloadable prepaid
cards
▪
Contactless open-loop gift cards
▪
Contactless payroll prepaid cards
▪
Contactless FSA/HSA medical cards
▪
Contactless government-administered general-purpose open-loop prepaid cards
▪
Contactless open-loop customer refund and incentive cards
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
8.a

not include:
Closed-loop prepaid cards (i.e., prepaid cards that don't route transactions over a debit card network)
Debit cards
ATM or ATM-only cards
Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards
Credit cards
If your answer is “Yes” to item 8 above, are you able to exclude contactless card
volumes in your answers to item 10 and its subsets below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
If your answer is No, please report the combined general-purpose prepaid card contactless and digital
wallet accounts (and associated transactions) for item 9 and its subsets (and item 10 and its subsets)
below, and explain in the comments box at the end of this section.

Number of active general-purpose prepaid card digital wallet accounts
(Average of monthly totals in 2020)
New active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed for the first time within a month.
All active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed within a month.
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of digital wallet. If your answer is No to
item 2 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
► Example: Your institution had 100 digital wallet accounts in January from which at least one value
transaction was completed. For 10 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via digital
wallet for the first time. Your institution had 120 digital wallet accounts in February from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 35 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. Your institution had 170 digital wallet accounts in March from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 30 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. In this example, you would report 25 new active digital wallet accounts, and 130
active digital wallet accounts in quarter 1. Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable
months (outlined above). To calculate the active users for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the
average of all 12 months.

10.

General-purpose prepaid card digital wallet transactions = 10.a + 10.b
Report all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border general-purpose prepaid card transactions made via
a digital wallet, including tokenized digital wallet. If your answer is No to item 2 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Digital wallet transactions made by using electronic devices, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or
activity tracker, by “tapping” the device at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay,
Fitbit Pay, Masterpass)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transaction’ made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a virtual
account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When making
a purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to process
payments. This can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to make a
purchase with a browser or in-app (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex
Express Checkout)
▪
Digital wallet NFC (near-field communication) transactions, MST (magnetic secure transmission)
transactions, QR code transactions, barcode transactions, in-app transactions, or browser transactions
Do not include:
▪
Card-on-file e-commerce transactions (cardholder-initiated or merchant-initiated) (i.e., installment
payment).
▪
Transactions made via contactless cards (i.e., “tap and pay”)
► Example: Your customer bought a movie ticket for $10 with his prepaid card, which was loaded into his
digital wallet (Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for the movie ticket, using
NFC technology. He then ordered a $30 dinner in a mobile application, paying with the same prepaid card via
his digital wallet (Apple Pay). In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $40.
10.a In-person transactions
Include transactions for which an electronic device, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or activity
tracker, was “tapped” to pay at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit
Pay)
Include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)

Do not include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transaction’ made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
► Example: Your customer bought lunch for $15 with his prepaid card, which was loaded into his
digital wallet (Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for lunch, using
NFC technology. He then bought groceries for $100 with his prepaid card by tapping his card on the
POS device. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $15.
10.b Remote transactions
Include in-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet. Browser transactions
include both digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) and third-party tokenized
digital wallets (e.g., PayPal, Amazon Pay, Square Restaurants, Visa Checkout, Masterpass)
Include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transaction’ made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
Do not include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
► Example: Your customer purchased a $500 item on an internet website with his prepaid card by
entering his prepaid card number, name, and address. He then bought a $65 pair of shoes in a mobile
application, paying with the same prepaid card with his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you
would report 1 transaction for $65.
11.

General-purpose prepaid card cash-back transactions
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border prepaid card transactions for which your
institution was the card issuer and in which the accountholders received cash back at the point of sale. These
include both signature-based cash-back and PIN-based cash-back transactions. For cash-back value, only
include the amount of cash your card users received at the point of sale. If your answer is No to item 2 above,
please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Prepaid card cash-back transactions at the point of sale. For value, only include the amount of cash
received at the point of sale
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
ATM withdrawals
Credit card transactions
Debit card transactions
The amount paid for goods and services

► Example: Your customer used her prepaid card at the grocery store to purchase $50 of food. She
entered her PIN to authorize the transaction and also requested $20 cash back. In this example, you would
report 1 transaction for $20.

General-Purpose Credit Cards
Note: For brevity, we will refer to “non-prepaid debit card” as “debit card” and “prepaid debit card” as “prepaid card”
in this glossary.

▪

Credit card network transactions do not
include…

Network transactions made with Visa,
MasterCard, Discover, or American
Express branded credit cards. These
include secured and unsecured credit
cards.
Network transactions originated in other
countries with credit cards issued from
U.S. domiciled accounts

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Debit card transactions
Prepaid card transactions
Convenience checks
Balance transfers
Cash advances
Co-branded card non-network (“internal”
or closed-loop) transactions

Digital Wallet
All purchase and bill-pay transactions made using a digital wallet in which users can complete purchases using nearfield communication (NFC) that works in conjunction with mobile payment systems, MST (magnetic secure
transmission) transactions, QR code transactions, barcode transactions, in-app transactions, or browser transactions.
Digital wallets can be used during in-person transactions or remote transactions. In-person transactions require the
payment holder to be present to use their digital wallet, while remote transactions are used during e-commerce sales
in which the authorization and transaction processes are not physically close to each other.
Digital wallet transactions include those made by using electronic devices, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or
activity tracker, by “tapping” the device at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay,
Masterpass).
They also include tokenized digital wallet transaction’ made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When making a
purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to process payments. This
can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to make a purchase with a browser or inapp (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express Checkout).
Virtual Card
Virtual cards are used for online or over the phone purchases and do not require the accountholder to have a
physical card. Virtual cards may provide greater security than a physical card because they use a unique card
number, expiration date, and security code that is only valid at specific merchants or for a specific amount of time.
Contactless Card
Contactless card payment is a secure method for consumers to purchase products or services via credit smartcards
(also known as chip cards) using RFID technology. To make a contactless payment, the user simply taps his or her
credit card near a POS terminal (an action sometimes referred to as “tap-and-go” or “tap-and-pay”).
50

Co-branded credit card
Co-branded credit cards are retail merchant credit cards that are issued in partnership with a specific network
processor (i.e., Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). Co-branded cards are branded with the logo of
the retailer and network processor. Users can earn discounts or rewards points when they make purchases with
sponsoring merchants.
Account type definitions
Consumer account
A credit card account for personal use by an individual or household from which payments can be made.
Business/government account
A credit account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository financial institution, or not-forprofit organization) from which payments can be made.
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Cash advances
A service provided by credit card and charge card issuers that allows cardholders to withdraw cash—either through
an ATM or over the counter at a bank or other financial agency—up to a prescribed limit.
Note: Do not report cash advance transactions in this section of the survey.
Convenience checks
A check linked to a cardholder’s credit line that can be used to make purchases, pay bills or transfer balances from
one credit account to another.
Note: Do not include convenience check transactions in this section of the survey.
Balance transfers
The transfer by a credit card accountholder of an outstanding debt balance from one credit card account to another.
Note: Do not include balance transfers in this section of the survey.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. The measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party
fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution have general-purpose credit cards in circulation in 2020 for which
your institution was the issuer?
These include general-purpose credit cards, charge cards, and co-branded cards for which your institution
owns the receivables and that use any one of the four major credit card networks (i.e., Visa, MasterCard,
American Express, and Discover). If your answer to this question is No, please report “0” for all items below.

Did your institution have co-branded credit cards in circulation in 2020 for which your
institution was the issuer?
These are retail merchant credit cards that are issued in partnership with a specific network processor (i.e.,
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). Co-branded cards are branded with the logo of the
retailer and network processor. Users can earn discounts or rewards points when they make purchases with
sponsoring merchants.
If your answer is Yes, please exclude “internal” (closed-loop, not using one of the above four major credit card
networks) volumes from items 8, 9, 10, and 13 and their subsets and report “internal” volumes in item 7.
Please include “external” (open-loop, using one of the above four major credit card networks) volumes in your
answers to items 8, 9, 10, and 13 and their subsets below.
If your answer is No, please report "0" for item 7 below.
2.a

If your institution had “internal” (closed-loop, not using one of the above four major
credit card networks) co-branded credit card transactions, are you able to exclude
these volumes from your answers to items 8, 9, 10, and 13 and their subsets
below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
Even if your answer is “No”, please report data for items 8, 9, 10, and 13 and their subsets below and
explain in the comment box at the end of this section.

Did your institution have virtual general-purpose credit cards in circulation in 2020 for
which your institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of virtual cards. If your answer is Yes,
please include the number of virtual general-purpose credit card transactions and accounts for all items below,
but do not include virtual cards in the number of physical cards in item 6 and its subsets below.

Total general-purpose credit card accounts = 4.a + 4.b
These include general-purpose credit card accounts for which your institution was the issuer. Please report
account totals, not cards (e.g., if a customer and their spouse both have a card under the same account,
please report as one account). If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
Include:
▪
All general-purpose credit card accounts, including zero-balance active accounts, with a credit line and
the ability to transact
▪
Virtual general-purpose credit card accounts
Do not include:
▪
Private-label credit or charge card accounts whose cards can only be used at a limited set of merchants
and that do not use one of the four major credit card networks
▪
White-label card accounts for which your institution was not the issuing institution
▪
Debit or prepaid card accounts
▪
Transaction deposit accounts
▪
Closed accounts
► Example: Tom, your consumer customer, has one credit card issued by your institution. Joe’s Diner,
your corporate customer, has a corporate credit card account with separate cards for each of their ten
employees. In this example, you would report 2 credit card accounts.

4.a

Consumer accounts
These include all credit card accounts that are for consumer accountholders. Please see the General
Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
All credit card accounts for consumer accountholders with credit card accounts for which your
institution was the issuer
Do not include:
▪
Business/government credit card accounts
► Example: Tom used his credit card issued by your institution to buy a $40 pair of jeans. His wife
then used another card linked to the same account to buy $15 worth of candy. In this example, you
would report 1 consumer credit card account.

4.b

Business/government accounts
These include all credit cards accounts that are for business/government accountholders. Please see
the General Terminology section above for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
All credit card accounts for business/government accountholders with credit card accounts for
which your institution was the issuer
Do not include:
▪
Consumer credit card accounts
► Example: Your corporate accountholder made a purchase of $500 with a corporate credit card
issued by your institution. An employee of the same institution then used her own credit card linked to
the same account to make a purchase of $100. In this example, you would report 1
business/government credit card account.

Consumer general-purpose credit card accounts (repeat item 4.a) = 5.a + 5.b + 5.c + 5.d
Please repeat item 4.a above. These include general-purpose credit cards for which your institution was the
issuer. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here. If you are unable to report items 5.a, 5.d,
5.d.1, and 5.d.2 below, please explain in the comments field. In this case, report “NR” for those items and
report balances for items 5.b and 5.c below.
Report interest-free balance transfers and interest-free spend (e.g., on introductory card offers) under current
balances for the duration of the interest-free period.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
5.a

With zero balance (no current balance, no revolving balance)
These are accounts with zero balance at the end of the billing cycle and have no purchase activity.
► Example: Joe has a credit card issued by your institution. He has never made a purchase on this
card, although the card account has been activated. In this example, you would report 1 credit card
account with a balance of $0.

5.b

With current balance only (nonzero current balance, no revolving balance)
These include the total number of accounts in which there is an amount owed on the credit card up to
the end of the most recent billing cycle. This is the balance that needs to be paid by a certain due date
so that no interest is applied.
Include:
▪
Balances associated with balance transfers received for which interest has not started accruing yet
▪
New accounts for which there is a promotional period of interest-free spend
► Example: Jay has a credit card issued by your institution, and he is a transactor (i.e., he pays the
balance in full each cycle). He uses this card to make purchases occasionally and had $300
outstanding at the end of last cycle. Jay has until the end of the next billing cycle to pay the balance
before interest is applied. Sarah also has a credit card issued by your institution. She has carried a
balance of $500 on her account for the past two cycles; however her card is currently in a promotional
period of interest free spend. In this example, you would report 2 credit card accounts with a balance of
$800.

5.c

With revolving balance only (no current activity)
These include the total number of accounts in which there is an amount owed on the credit card for
which interest was applied already. This is the balance which was not paid by its due date.
► Example: Rachael has a credit card issued by your institution, and she is a revolver (i.e., she
carries a balance from one cycle to the next). She frequently uses this card to make purchases, and
she had a balance of $500 that was outstanding at the end of the prior month, of which interest was
applied to her bill this month. She did not make any purchases on the card this month, so the total
balance at the end of this cycle is still $500. In this example, you would report 1 credit card account
with a balance of $500. Do not include interest.

5.d

With current and revolving balances = 5.d.1 + 5.d.2
These include the total number of accounts in which there is an amount owed on the credit card which
includes interest that was applied already, as well as a current balance owed on the most recent billing
cycle. Include both the balance that was not paid by its due date, as well as the balance that needs to
be paid by a certain due date to avoid incurring an interest expense.
► Example: Sarah has a credit card issued by your institution. She frequently uses this card to
make purchases, and she had a balance of $500 that was outstanding at the end of the prior month, of
which interest was applied to her bill this month. She then spent an additional $200 on the same card
this month, of which interest has not yet been applied. In this example, you would report 1 credit card
account with a balance of $700.
5.d.1

Current balance
Total amount owed on the credit card up to the end of your most recent billing cycle. This
is the balance that you need to pay by a certain due date so that no interest is applied.
► Example: Sarah has a credit card issued by your institution. She frequently uses this
card to make purchases, and she had a balance of $500 that was outstanding at the end
of the prior month, of which interest was applied to her bill this month. She then spent an
additional $200 on the same card this month, of which interest has not yet been applied.
In this example, the current balance would be $200.

5.d.2

Revolving balance
Total amount owed on the credit card on which interest was applied already. This is the
balance which was not paid by its due date.
► Example: Sarah has a credit card issued by your institution. She frequently uses
thiscard to make purchases, and she had a balance of $500 that was outstanding at the
end of the prior month, of which interest was applied to her bill this month. She then
spent an additional $200 on the same card this month, of which interest has not yet been
applied.In this example, the revolving balance would be $500. Do not include interest.

Number of physical general-purpose credit cards = 6.a + 6.b
For cards in force, report only cards that had been issued by your institution, activated by your institution’s
accountholders, and had not expired at the end of a month.
If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Average of monthly totals means the average of end-of-month totals for each of the months in 2020.
Do not include:
▪
Private-label credit or charge card accounts whose cards can only be used at a limited set of merchants
and that do not use one of the four major credit card networks
▪
White-label card accounts for which your institution was not the issuing institution
▪
Transaction deposit accounts
▪
Closed accounts
▪
Virtual cards
► Example: Your institution has 500 credit cards issued to your consumer and business accountholders at
the end of January. Of these credit cards, 450 cards have been activated and are not expired, 30 cards have
not been activated yet, and 20 cards have been activated but are now expired. In this example, you would
report 450 credit cards in force for January. Repeat this calculation for every month and then average the total
across 12 months.

6.a

Consumer cards
These include all credit cards associated with consumer accounts. Please see the General
Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
All credit cards for consumer accountholders over any credit card network for which your institution
was the issuer
Do
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Business/government credit cards
Consumer and business/government debit cards
Consumer and business/government prepaid cards

► Example: Your institution has 500 credit cards issued to your consumer accounts at the end of
January. Of these credit cards, 450 cards have been activated and are not expired, 30 cards have not
been activated yet, and 20 cards have been activated but are now expired. In this example, you would
report 450 consumer credit cards in force for January. Repeat this calculation for every month and then
average the total across 12 months.
6.b

Business/government cards
These include all credit cards associated with business/government accounts. Please see the General
Terminology section above for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
All credit cards for business/government accountholders over any credit card network for which
your institution was the issuer
Do
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Consumer credit card accounts
Consumer and business/government debit card accounts
Consumer and business/government prepaid card accounts

► Example: Your institution has 1,000 credit cards issued to business/government accountholders at
the end of January. Of these credit cards, 900 cards have been activated and are not expired, 70 cards
have not been activated yet, and 30 cards have been activated but are now expired. In this example,
you would report 900 business credit cards in force for January. Repeat this calculation for every month
and then average the total across 12 months.
7.

Total general-purpose co-branded credit card non-network transactions (“internal”
closed-loop transactions)
These are retail merchant credit cards that are issued in partnership with a specific network processor (i.e.,
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). Co-branded cards are branded with the logo of the
retailer and network processor. Users can earn discounts or rewards points when they make purchases with
sponsoring merchants. If your answer is No to item 1 or item 2 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
“Internal” (closed-loop, not using one of the above four major credit card networks) co-branded credit card
transactions
Do not include:
▪
“External” (open-loop, using one of the above four major credit card networks) co-branded credit card
network transactions
► Example: Your customer paid for her $200 hotel room with her credit card that was issued by your
institution and co-branded with a hotel company. Later that day, she used another credit card issued by your
institution to buy lunch for $20. In this example, you would report only 1 transaction for $200.

Total general-purpose credit card network transactions = 8.a + 8.b
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border transactions over any credit card network for
which your institution was the issuer. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
All network transactions made with general-purpose credit cards, charge cards, or co-branded cards
issued by your institution
▪
Both consumer and business/government credit card transactions
▪
Both in-person and remote credit card transactions

Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
General-purpose credit card non-network transactions (e.g., balance transfers, convenience checks)
Co-branded credit card non-network (“internal” or closed-loop) transactions
Debit card transactions
Prepaid card transactions
Credit card cash advances (e.g., ATM withdrawals, over-the-counter withdrawals)

► Example: Your customer bought $50 of groceries with her credit card. Later that day, she used the same
credit card issued by your institution to purchase a $70 purse online. In this example, you would report two
transactions for $120.
8.a

From consumer accounts
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
All network transactions made by consumer accountholders with general-purpose credit cards,
charge cards, or co-branded cards issued by your institution
Do not include:
▪
Credit card transactions made by business/government accountholders
► Example: Tom used his credit card issued by your institution to buy a $40 pair of jeans. Later that
day, he used his credit card at the ATM to make a $500 cash advance. In this example, you would
report one transaction for $40.

8.b

From business/government accounts
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of business/government
accounts.
Include:
▪
All network transactions made by business/government accountholders with general-purpose credit
cards, charge cards, or co-branded cards issued by your institution
Do not include:
▪
Credit card transactions made by consumer accountholders
► Example: Your corporate accountholder made a purchase of $500 with a corporate credit card
issued by your institution. Later that day, he made a cash advance using the same credit card and
withdrew $200 in cash over the counter at one of your branch locations. In this example, you would
report one transaction for $500.

Total general-purpose credit card network transactions (repeat item 8) = 9.a + 9.b
Repeat item 8 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border transactions over any
credit card network for which your institution was the issuer. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please
report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
Include:
▪
All network transactions made with general-purpose credit cards, charge cards, or co-branded cards
issued by your institution
▪
Both consumer and business/government credit card transactions
▪
Both in-person and remote credit card transactions
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

► Example 1: Your customer bought $50 of groceries with her credit card. Later that day, she used the
same credit card issued by your institution to purchase a $70 purse online. In this example, you would report
2 transactions for $120.

► Example 2: In quarter 1, your customer completed 2 transactions with her credit card for a total of $120
in January, 4 transactions with her credit card for a total of $120 in February, and 2 transactions with her credit
card for a total of $100 in March. In this example, you would report 8 transactions for $340 in quarter 1.
Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable months (outlined above). To calculate the
total transactions for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the total of all 12 months.
9.a

In-person transactions
These include all general-purpose credit card network transactions for which the card user is physically
present with the card at the point of sale. Include digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay)
transactions at the point of sale only. Please report the total transactions using a PIN and without a
PIN.
Include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
Do not include:
▪
Remote transactions
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser transactions
► Example: Your customer bought a coat for $100 with his credit card by entering his PIN at the
checkout line. Later that day, he bought a $40 train ticket with his credit card with his digital wallet
(Apple Pay) at the checkout. For this example, you would report 2 transactions for $140.

9.b

Remote transactions
These include all general-purpose credit card network transactions for which the card user does not
physically present the card to authorize the transaction, including mail-order transactions, telephoneorder transactions, and internet transactions. Please report the total transactions with either a domestic
or foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Remote credit card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order transactions)
▪
Digital wallet in-app or browser credit card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
Do not include:
▪
In-person transactions
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
In-person contactless card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
▪
In-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
In-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
► Example: Your customer purchased a $500 item on a German internet website with his credit card
by entering his credit card number, name, and address. He then proceeded to buy a $65 pair of shoes
from a U.S.-based store in a mobile application not at the point of sale, paying with the same credit card
with his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $565.

10.

Third-party fraudulent general-purpose credit card network transactions = 10.a + 10.b
These include all third-party unauthorized credit card transactions, before any recoveries or chargebacks, for
which your institution was the card issuer. Please report any fraudulent third-party credit card transactions,
regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please
report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Credit card transactions that were not authorized by a valid card user (third-party fraud)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Fraud prevented by declining a transaction
Fraud committed by a valid card user (first-party fraud)
Fraudulent debit card transactions
Fraudulent prepaid card transactions
Credit card transactions authorized by a valid card user as part of a scam
Fraudulent credit card cash advances (e.g., ATM withdrawals, over-the-counter withdrawals)
57

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s credit card issued by your institution was stolen. The perpetrator used
the card to make one purchase worth $1,000, which was authorized at the point of sale. The perpetrator
attempted to make another purchase worth $500 the next day. Your accountholder had already alerted your
institution to the previous fraudulent activity and a hold had been put on her account, so the perpetrator never
received funds from the second attempt. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $1,000.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that her credit card was stolen and used to purchase a $500 TV
in an electronics store. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder made
this purchase on her card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), it
should not be included in item 10 above.
10.a In-person transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent general-purpose credit card transactions for which the card
user is physically present with the card at the point of sale. Include digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay,
Samsung Pay) transactions at the point of sale only. Please report the total transactions using PIN,
and without PIN.
Include:
▪
In-person fraudulent transactions
▪
Fraudulent in-person contactless credit card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” with a credit card)
▪
Fraudulent in-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using
near-field communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
▪
Fraudulent in-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
▪
Fraudulent in-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)
Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent remote transactions
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser transactions
► Example 1: Your accountholder’s credit card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to make
two purchases totaling $1,000 over the internet. He then bought lunch for $35 at a restaurant using the
stolen card. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $35.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that her credit card was stolen and used to purchase a
$500 TV in an electronics store. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder
made this purchase on her card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of fraud), it
should not be included in item 10.a above.
10.b Remote transactions
These include only third-party fraudulent general-purpose credit card transactions for which the card
user does not physically present the card to authorize the transaction. Please report any fraudulent
third-party credit card transactions, regardless of whether the transaction resulted in a loss of funds.
Please report the total transactions with either a domestic or foreign payee.
Include:
▪
Fraudulent remote credit card transactions (e.g., mail-order transactions, telephone-order
transactions)
▪
Fraudulent digital wallet in-app or browser credit card transactions (e.g., e-commerce transactions)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
In-person fraudulent transactions
Fraudulent in-person contactless credit card transactions (i.e., “tap and pay” with a credit card)
Fraudulent in-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using
near-field communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
Fraudulent in-person intermediated transactions (e.g., Square, Clover, Zettle)
Fraudulent in-person card-not-present transactions (i.e., key-entered transactions)

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s credit card was stolen. The perpetrator used the card to
purchase a TV for $500 at a store by fraudulently signing the receipt. He then proceeded to use the
stolen card to buy an item online for $250. Both transactions were authorized. In this example, you
would report 1 transaction for $250.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that his credit card was stolen and used to purchase a
$20 video game online. An investigation by your institution determined that in fact your accountholder
made this purchase on his card. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud (false claim of
fraud), it should not be included in item 10.b above.

11.

Did your institution have contactless general-purpose credit cards in circulation in 2020
for which your institution was the issuer?
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of contactless cards.
Include:
▪
Contactless credit cards at the point of sale (i.e., “tap and pay” physical cards, fobs, or stickers)
11.a If your answer is “Yes” to item 11 above, are you able to exclude contactless card
volumes in your answers to item 13 and its subsets below?
If your answer is Yes, in some cases, please explain in the comments box at the end of this section.
If your answer is No, please report the combined general-purpose credit card contactless and digital
wallet accounts (and associated transactions) for item 12 and its subsets (and item 13 and its subsets)
below, and explain in the comments box at the end of this section.

12.

Number of active general-purpose credit card digital wallet accounts
(Average of monthly totals in 2020)
New active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed for the first time within a month.
All active digital wallet accounts are accounts from which at least one value transaction via digital wallet
was completed within a month.
Please see the General Terminology section above for the definition of digital wallet. If your answer is No to
item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
► Example: Your institution had 100 digital wallet accounts in January from which at least one value
transaction was completed. For 10 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via digital
wallet for the first time. Your institution had 120 digital wallet accounts in February from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 35 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. Your institution had 170 digital wallet accounts in March from which at least one
value transaction was completed. For 30 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via
digital wallet for the first time. In this example, you would report 25 new active digital wallet accounts, and 130
active digital wallet accounts in quarter 1. Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable
months (outlined above). To calculate the active users for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the
average of all 12 months.

13.

Total general-purpose credit card digital wallet transactions = 13.a + 13.b
These are all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border general-purpose credit card transactions madevia
a digital wallet, including tokenized digital wallet. If your answer is No to item 1 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Digital wallet credit card transactions made by using electronic devices, such as a smartphone, smart
watch, or activity tracker, by “tapping” the device at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay,
Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, Masterpass)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet credit card transactions made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account number. These credentials can be stored either on a smartphone or in the cloud. When
making a purchase, a substitute account number and a transaction specific code (“token”) are used to
process payments. This can include purchasing items online with a computer or using a smartphone to
make a purchase with a browser or in-app (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout,
Amex Express Checkout).
▪
Digital wallet credit card NFC (near-field communication) transactions, MST (magnetic secure
transmission) transactions, QR code transactions, barcode transactions, in-app transactions, or browser
transactions.
Do not include:
▪
Credit card-on-file e-commerce transactions (cardholder-initiated or merchant-initiated) (i.e., installment
payment)
▪
Transactions made via contactless cards (i.e., “tap and pay”)
► Example: Your customer bought a movie for $10 with his credit card, which was loaded into his digital
wallet (Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for lunch, using NFC
technology. He then ordered a $30 dinner in a mobile application, paying with the same credit card via his
digital wallet (Apple Pay). In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $40.
59

13.a In-person transactions
These include credit card transactions for which an electronic device, such as a smartphone, smart
watch, or activity tracker, was “tapped” to pay at the POS terminal (e.g., Apple Pay, Samsung Pay,
Google Pay, Fitbit Pay)
Include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
Do not include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
► Example: Your customer bought lunch for $15 with his credit card, which was loaded into his
digital wallet (Apple Pay). He physically tapped his phone on the POS device to pay for lunch, using
NFC technology. He then bought groceries for $100 with his credit card by tapping his card on the POS
device. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $15.
13.b Remote transactions
These include in-app credit card transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet.
Browser transactions include both digital wallets (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) and
third-party tokenized digital wallets (e.g., PayPal, Amazon Pay, Square Restaurants, Visa Checkout,
Masterpass)
Include:
▪
In-app transactions or browser transactions made with a digital wallet (e.g., Apple Pay, Google
Pay, Samsung Pay)
▪
Tokenized digital wallet transactions made by using customer's payment credentials saved in a
virtual account (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, Amex Express
Checkout)
Do not include:
▪
In-person mobile transactions (i.e., digital wallet transactions at the point of sale using near-field
communication, magnetic secure transmission, QR codes, or barcode technology)
► Example: Your customer purchased a $500 item on an internet website with his credit card by
entering his credit card number, name, and address. He then bought a $65 pair of shoes in a mobile
application, paying with the same credit card with his digital wallet (Google Pay). In this example, you
would report 1 transaction for $65.

Cash
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution's U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Cash withdrawals
Cash withdrawals made by your accountholders at your ATMs, “foreign” ATMs, wholesale vaults, or over the counter
or from remote currency management terminals (RCMTs). For this study, please follow these guidelines:
Cash withdrawals include…
▪

Cash Withdrawals do not include…

All cash withdrawals by your
accountholders (including, as
appropriate for the particular survey
question, withdrawals made in other
countries)

▪

Cash paid out in exchange for a check,
whether for an accountholder or not (in
this case, whomever receives the cash
is a customer)

▪

Credit card cash advances

▪

Prepaid card cash withdrawals

▪

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Cash withdrawals or other transactions by
individuals or businesses other than your
accountholders
Deposit transactions
Inquiries
Funds transfers
Statement prints
Purchases (e.g., stamps, tickets)
Any other non-withdrawal transactions

Cash advances
A service that allows credit and charge card holders to withdraw cash using a credit card, either in-person through an
ATM or over the counter at a bank or other financial agency. Credit card issuers reporting cash advances in this
section should not include convenience checks or balance transfers in reported amounts.
ATM cash withdrawals
Cash withdrawals made by your accountholders at your ATMs or at “foreign” ATMs. For this study, please follow
these guidelines:
ATM cash withdrawals do not
include…

ATM cash withdrawals include…
▪

All ATM cash withdrawals by your
accountholders (including, as appropriate for
the particular survey question, withdrawals
made in other countries)

▪

Credit card cash advances

▪

Prepaid card cash withdrawals

▪

▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

Cash withdrawals or other transactions
by individuals or businesses other than
your accountholders
Over-the-counter withdrawals
Withdrawals from remote currency
management terminals (RCMTs)
Deposit transactions
Convenience checks
Inquiries
Funds transfers
Statement print-outs
Purchases (e.g., stamps, tickets)
Any other non-withdrawal transactions
Convenience checks
Balance transfers

Account type definitions
Consumer account
An account for personal use by an individual or household from which ATM withdrawals can be made and cash can
be deposited.
Business/government account
An account owned by an organization (i.e., business, government, non-depository financial institution, or not-for-profit
organization) from which ATM withdrawals can be made and cash can be deposited
Note: Please report small business accounts under business/government accounts, if possible.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. This measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between banks, or create a book transfer of funds if
the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all types of outcomes that
may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages to create a funds
transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts visible to your
institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled third-party
fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

Cash Withdrawals
SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Total cash withdrawals from your institution = 1.a + 1.b + 1.c + 1.d
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border cash withdrawals made from accounts at
your institution.
Include:
▪
Cash withdrawals that were made over the counter at your institution’s bank branches
▪
Cash orders at wholesale vaults
▪
Cash withdrawals at ATMs and RCMTs
▪
Cash withdrawals from deposit and prepaid card program accounts
▪
Credit card cash advances

Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
1.a

not include:
Noncash withdrawal transactions made from accounts at your institution
Withdrawals made from accounts at another institution
Deposit transactions
Teller vault activity
Convenience checks
Balance transfers
Other non-withdrawal transactions (e.g., inquiries, statement print-outs, purchases of stamps, tickets)
Over-the-counter cash withdrawals
These include all cash withdrawals made by your institution’s accountholders at bank lobby teller
window or drive-through teller.
Note: Please count only over-the-counter cash withdrawals made at your institution’s branch locations
from accounts at your institution.
Include:
▪
Withdrawal transactions initiated via a withdrawal slip or via the deposit of any negotiable or
nonnegotiable instrument
▪
Over-the-counter cash withdrawals made using your accountholder’s debit, prepaid or credit card
linked to the account
▪

Over-the-counter check cashing (only include the portion of the check that was received in cash)

Do not include:
▪
Cash withdrawals at ATM terminals including those located at your institution’s branch locations
► Example: Your accountholder withdrew $100 in cash over the counter from a teller at one of your
institution’s branch locations. In this example, you would report 1 transaction of $100.
1.b

Cash orders at wholesale vaults
These include all cash withdrawals handled through armored couriers including vaults operated by your
institution or outsourced to armored couriers or other third-party vault operators. Also include all cash
(notes and coin) withdrawals made at wholesale vaults from accounts at your institution.
Note: Please count only cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution at wholesale vaults.
Include:
▪
Cash withdrawals at outsourced wholesale vaults made from accounts at your institution
Do not include:
▪
Cash withdrawals at ATM terminals
► Example: A local retailer for which your institution provides banking services used an armored
courier service to deposit $5,000 in cash and coin at your cash vault and to order $1,500 in various
denominations of cash straps and coin rolls to make change available in its store(s). In this example,
you would include 1 cash order for $1,500.

1.c

Cash withdrawals made at remote currency management terminals (RCMTs)
These include all cash withdrawals made at remote currency management terminals (e.g., “smart safes”
and “cash recyclers”) that were deployed by your institution and resided at a client site (e.g., gas station,
restaurant).
Include:
▪
All cash withdrawals at RCMTs
Do not include:
▪
Cash deposits made at remote currency management terminals
▪
Transactions that involved armored couriers withdrawing cash from these terminals or replenishing
cash in cash recyclers
► Example: Your customer, a gas station, has installed a cash recycler provided by your institution at
one of its stores. In the evening, a gas station clerk deposited $500 in the cash recycler. The next
morning, another clerk withdrew $1,000 from the same recycler. In this example, you would report 1
withdrawal for $1,000.

1.d

Total ATM cash withdrawals (your institution’s accountholder, any ATM)
These include all cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution from any ATM, including
those at your institution’s ATM terminals or “foreign” ATMs. A “foreign” ATM is an ATM operated by an
unaffiliated depository institution or ATM operator that is not sponsored by your institution.
Note: Please count only cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution at any ATM terminal.
63

Include:
▪
Your institution’s prepaid, debit, and credit card accountholders’ ATM cash withdrawals at your
institution’s ATMs (include cash advances from credit card accountholders)
► Example: Glen is a checking accountholder at your institution. Jennifer is not. Glen withdrew
$100 cash from his checking account using your ATM on Monday and $200 using another institution’s
ATM on Friday. Jennifer withdrew $400 from your ATM on Tuesday. In this example, you would report
2 ATM withdrawals for a total of $300.
2.

Total cash withdrawals from your institution (repeat item 1) = 2.a + 2.b
Repeat item 1 above. These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border cash withdrawals
made from accounts at your institution.
Include:
▪
Cash withdrawals that were made over the counter at your institution’s bank branches
▪
Cash orders at wholesale vaults
▪
▪
▪

Cash withdrawals at ATMs and RCMTs
Cash withdrawals from deposit and prepaid card program accounts
Credit card cash advances

Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

2.a

From consumer accounts
These include all consumer deposit account cash withdrawals. Please refer to the General
Terminology section above for the definition of consumer accounts.
Include:
▪
Consumer or prepaid account withdrawals
▪
Consumer credit card cash advances
Do not include:
▪
Business/government account withdrawals
► Example: Your consumer accountholder withdrew $250 in cash at an ATM. In this example, you
would report one withdrawal of $250.

2.b

From business/government accounts
These include all business/government account cash withdrawals. Please include small business
accounts under business/government accounts. Please refer to the General Terminology section
above for the definition of business/government accounts.
Include:
▪
Cash withdrawals made on a debit or prepaid card linked to a business/government account
▪
Business/government credit card cash advances
Do not include:
▪
Consumer account withdrawals
► Example: Your small business accountholder, a restaurant owner, withdrew $500 in cash over the
counter at one of your institution’s branches. In this example, you would report one withdrawal of $500.

Total ATM cash withdrawals (your institution’s accountholder, any ATM)
(repeat item1.d) = 3.a + 3.b
Repeat item 1.d above. These are cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution from any ATM,
including those at your institution’s ATM terminals or “foreign” ATMs. A “foreign” ATM is an ATM operated by
an unaffiliated depository institution or ATM operator that is not sponsored by your institution.
Note: Please count only cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution at any ATM.
Include:
▪
Your institution's prepaid and debit card accountholders’ ATM cash withdrawals at any ATM
▪
Cash advances from credit cards at ATM terminals
64

Do
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Withdrawals by another institution’s accountholders at your institution’s ATMs
Deposit transactions
RCMT withdrawals
Teller vault activity
Over-the-counter cash withdrawals
Other non-withdrawal transactions (e.g., inquiries, statement print-outs, purchases of stamps, tickets)

► Example: Glen is a checking accountholder at your institution, and Jennifer is not. Glen withdrew $100
cash from his checking account using your ATM on Monday and $200 using another institution’s ATM on
Friday. Jennifer withdrew $400 from your ATM on Tuesday. In this example, you would report 2 withdrawals
for a total of $300.
3.a

Domestic ATM withdrawals (your institution’s accountholder, any ATM in the U.S.)
These are cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution from any ATM located in the U.S.
(i.e., ATMs located in the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories).
Include:
▪
All cash withdrawals on your institution’s accounts from any ATM located in the U.S.
Do not include:
▪
Cash withdrawals on your institution’s accounts from any ATM located outside the U.S.
► Example: Sam, John, and Jenny are checking accountholders at your institution. Sam withdrew
$100 in cash at one of your institution’s ATMs located in New York. John withdrew $150 in cash at
another institution’s ATM located in Chicago. Jenny withdrew $200 in cash at another institution’s ATM
located in Canada. In this example, you would report 2 withdrawals for a total of $250.

3.b

Cross-border ATM withdrawals (your institution’s accountholder, any ATM outside
the U.S.)
These are cash withdrawals made from accounts at your institution from any ATM located outside the
U.S.
Include:
▪
All cash withdrawals on your institution’s accounts from any ATM located outside the U.S.
Do not include:
▪
Cash withdrawals on your institution’s accounts from any ATM located in the U.S.
► Example: Sam, John, and Jenny are checking accountholders at your institution. Sam withdrew
$100 in cash at one of your institution’s ATMs located in New York. John withdrew $150 in cash at
another institution’s ATM located in Chicago. Jenny withdrew $200 in cash at another institution’s ATM
located in Canada. In this example, you would report 1 withdrawal for $200.

Third-party fraudulent ATM cash withdrawals (your institution’s accountholder, any ATM)
These are all ATM cash withdrawals that were not authorized by your institution’s accountholders (third-party
fraud).
Include:
▪
Any third-party, fraudulent ATM cash withdrawals, regardless of whether those funds were subsequently
recovered (debit, prepaid ATM cash withdrawals and credit card cash advances)
Do
▪
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Fraud committed by a valid accountholder (first-party fraud)
Fraudulent withdrawals at your institution’s ATMs that were made by another institution’s accountholders
Deposit transactions
Unauthorized non-withdrawal transactions at an ATM

► Example 1: Your accountholder’s debit card was stolen by a perpetrator who watched her enter her PIN
at the point of sale. The perpetrator used the card and PIN to make a one-time $200 ATM withdrawal. The
next day, the perpetrator tried to withdraw $500 from another ATM. Your accountholder had already reported
the previous fraudulent activity and a hold had been put on their account, so the perpetrator was not able to
withdraw any funds. In this example, you would report 1 transaction for $200.
► Example 2: Your accountholder claimed that a perpetrator stole her debit card and used it to withdraw
$100 from an ATM. However, an investigation by your institution determined the claim to be false, as the
money was actually withdrawn by your accountholder. Since this transaction is an example of first-party fraud
(false claim of fraud), you would not include it in item 4 above.

Alternative Payment Initiation Methods
This section covers all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border online or mobile consumer bill payments and
person-to-person (P2P) transfers originated by your institution’s consumer accountholders, including third-party
fraudulent P2P transfer originations.

GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
Your institution
“Your institution” refers to the participating depository institution at its highest organizational level (i.e., holding
company, if applicable), including all affiliates. Only report data associated with your institution's U.S. domiciled
accounts (i.e., those accounts located within the 50 U.S. states, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico,
or U.S. Virgin Islands), including both domestic and cross-border transactions.
Third-party fraud
The Federal Reserve Payments Study has identified a measure of fraud that can be described as cleared and settled
third-party fraudulent transactions. This measure is not a loss-of-funds measure, nor is it a measure of fraud
attempts; rather, it is a measure of the extent to which third parties who are not authorized to conduct transactions
are able to penetrate the payment system and affect settlement between depository institutions, or create a book
transfer of funds if the transaction happens within one institution. The definition includes third-party fraud with all
types of outcomes that may or may not include a loss to various entities, but constitutes a fraud attempt that manages
to create a funds transfer, if only temporary. The definition is depicted below within the hierarchy of fraud attempts
visible to your institution. The definition of fraud in this study is highlighted in yellow to show that cleared and settled
third-party fraud includes at least six different categories of fraud outcomes.

SURVEY ITEMS
1.

Did your institution offer online or mobile consumer bill payments during calendar year
2020?
These include online and mobile bill payment transactions initiated through your institution’s bill payment
platform. If your answer to this question is No, please report “0” for item 2 below.
Include:
▪
All online and mobile bill payment transactions paid from consumer accounts at your institution and
initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), a mobile application, or an SMS/text
message
Do
▪
▪
▪

not include:
Payments made through a biller’s website
Person-to-person transfers (e.g., Zelle) reported in item 4 and 5 below
All online and mobile bill payment transactions paid from business/government accounts at your institution
and initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), a mobile application, or an SMS/text
message

► Example: Your accountholder paid his utility bill through his PC by initiating a payment from his account
via your institution’s website. Another accountholder paid his rent by initiating a payment from his account via
your institution’s website using his smartphone. A third accountholder paid his rent by initiating a payment via
your institution’s mobile application rather than your institution’s website. Any one of these examples would
result in a Yes response to this question.
2.

Total online or mobile bill payment transactions initiated by your institution’s consumer
accountholders
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border online and mobile consumer bill payment
transactions initiated through your institution’s bill payment platform. If your answer is No to item 1 above,
please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
All online and mobile bill payment transactions paid from consumer accounts at your institution and
initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), a mobile application, or an SMS/text
message
Do
▪
▪
▪

► Example: Your accountholder paid her $50 utility bill through her PC by initiating a payment from her
account via your institution’s website. Another accountholder paid his rent of $1,500 by initiating a payment
from his account via your institution’s website using his smartphone. A third accountholder paid his rent of
$2,000 by initiating a payment via your institution’s mobile application rather than your institution’s website. In
this example you would report 3 transactions for $3,550.
3.

Did your institution offer an online or mobile person-to-person (P2P) funds transfer
system during calendar year 2020?
These include all online, mobile, and SMS/text message funds transfer transactions from person to person
(P2P). If your answer is No, please report “0” for items 4, 5, and 6 below.
Include:
▪
Person-to-person transfers initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), your institution’s
mobile application, or an SMS/text message. Include Zelle and Popmoney P2P transfers if they are
initiated through your institution’s online application
Do not include:
▪
Business/government-to-person
▪
Transfers made from an external party’s website including Venmo, Popmoney, and Zelle P2P transfers if
they are initiated through an external party’s online application
▪
Transfers from small business accounts to consumer accounts
▪
Online and mobile bill payment transactions initiated through your institution’s bill payment platform
▪
P2P transfers received from an accountholder at another institution
67

► Example: Your accountholder initiated a payment from his account to another person’s account at
another institution via Zelle offered through the mobile version of your institution’s website. Another
accountholder at your institution initiated a payment from his account to another person’s account at another
institution via Popmoney on your institution’s mobile application. Both of these examples would result in a Yes
response to this question.

Number of active online or mobile person-to-person (P2P) transfer accounts
New active P2P transfer accounts are accounts from which at least one payment was sent via your
institution’s P2P transfer platform for the first time within a month.
All active P2P transfer accounts are accounts from which at least one payment was sent via your
institution’s P2P transfer platform within a month.
If your answer is No to item 3 above, please report “0” here.
Quarter 1: Jan, Feb, Mar
Quarter 2: Apr, May, Jun
Quarter 3: Jul, Aug, Sep
Quarter 4: Oct, Nov, Dec
► Example: Your institution had 100 P2P transfer accounts in January from which at least one value
transaction was completed. For 10 of these accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via your
institution’s P2P transfer platform for the first time. Your institution had 120 P2P transfer accounts in February
from which at least one value transaction was completed. For 35 of these accounts, the accountholder
completed a transaction via your institution’s P2P transfer platform for the first time. Your institution had 170
P2P transfer accounts in March from which at least one value transaction was completed. For 30 of these
accounts, the accountholder completed a transaction via your institution’s P2P transfer platform for the first
time. In this example, you would report 25 new active P2P transfer accounts, and 130 active P2P transfer
accounts in quarter 1. Repeat this calculation for quarters 2, 3, and 4 using the applicable months (outlined
above). To calculate the active users for calendar year 2020, repeat this calculation with the average of all 12
months.

Total online or mobile person-to-person (P2P) transfer originations
These include all cleared and settled, domestic and cross-border person-to-person transfers originated by your
institution’s consumer accountholders and initiated via your institution’s website, mobile application, or an
SMS/text message to another consumer account. If your answer is No to item 3 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Person-to-person transfers initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), your institution’s
mobile application, or an SMS/text message. Include Zelle and Popmoney P2P transfers if they are
initiated through your institution’s online application
Do not include:
▪
Business/government-to-person
▪
Transfers made from an external party’s website including Venmo, Popmoney, and Zelle P2P transfers if
they are initiated through an external party’s online application
▪
Transfers from small business accounts to consumer accounts
▪
Online and mobile bill payment transactions initiated through your institution’s bill payment platform
▪
P2P transfers received from an accountholder at another institution
► Example: Your accountholder, Jenny, initiated a $200 payment from her account to another person’s
account at another institution through your institution’s mobile application on her tablet by entering the
recipient’s phone number or e-mail address. Jenny then initiated another payment for $50 from her account to
another person’s account at your institution through your institution’s mobile application. Jenny then initiated a
payment of $75 to another friend via Venmo. In this example, you would report 2 transactions for $250.

Third-party fraudulent online or mobile person-to-person (P2P) transfer originations
These include all fraudulent person-to-person transfers originated from your institution’s consumer account
and initiated via your institution’s website, mobile application, or an SMS/text message to another consumer
account. If your answer is No to item 3 above, please report “0” here.
Include:
▪
Fraudulent person-to-person transfers initiated through a web browser (including a mobile browser), your
institution’s mobile application, or an SMS/text message. Include fraudulent Zelle and Popmoney P2P
transfers if they are initiated through your institution’s online application
68

Do not include:
▪
Fraudulent business/government-to-person
▪
Fraudulent transfers made from an external party’s website, including Venmo, Popmoney, and Zelle P2P
transfers if they are initiated through an external party’s online application
▪
Fraudulent transfers from small business accounts to consumer accounts
▪
Any fraudulent bill payment transactions initiated through your institution’s bill payment platform
▪
Fraudulent P2P transfers received from an accountholder at another institution
► Example: John is an accountholder at your institution. His account was hacked. The perpetrator used
Zelle through your institution’s mobile application and paid his own account, also at your institution, $100. He
then initiated a second payment of $200 from John’s account to pay another person’s account at another
institution using Zelle as before. The next day, the perpetrator attempted to initiate a third payment of $300
from John’s account to pay his own account at your institution via Zelle on your institution’s mobile application.
However, John had already alerted your institution to the previous fraudulent activity and a hold had been put
on his account, so the funds were never made available to the perpetrator. In this example you would report 2
transactions for $300.

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File Modified	2022-07-29
File Created	2021-12-28