Will the new credit card reform legislation create a 'Plastic Gap'?

Lyle Elias
IPayments News
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In a January 31st Huffington Post article, Jerry Welch, CEO of nFinanSe, claims that “In the past several decades, the way we pay for things has made plastic, not cash, king.” Jerry makes a case in the piece for the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act and how in his own words, “This sweeping legislation cracks down on rate increases, eliminates certain tricky practices, improves transparency and protects arguably the most vulnerable among us – young consumers…anyone under the age of 21 will be much more protected from the dangers of credit cards. However, there are consequences they may not like.” He went on to predict that the restrictions imposed on under 21 year old consumers will make it more difficult for them to obtain credit cards and thus they will increasingly turn to prepaid debit cards as an alternative payment method. It is on this topic that I interviewed Jerry, to further explore with him how the new credit card legislation that goes into effect this month will impact the open-loop prepaid card industry.