The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is calling on financial institutions to publicly disclose agreements with colleges and universities to market debit, prepaid, and other products to students.
Currently, institutions only make these disclosures about college credit cards. The CFPB also released its annual report on college credit card agreements, which showed a decline of 23 percent in college agreements from 2011 to 2012.
“Students and their families should know if their school, whether well-intentioned or not, is being compensated to encourage students to use a specific account or card product,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “When financial institutions secretly give kickbacks to schools, they are engaging in risky practices.”
Read more on CTWatchdog.