No, the Illinois Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) does not prohibit you from advertising your products and services on the screens of ATMs that may be accessed by non-customers, provided that the advertisement appears only to your customers after they insert a card issued by your bank.

The Illinois EFTA generally prohibits a bank from advertising any products or services that are not offered at the terminal. In addition, the IDFPR has stated that banks may not solicit non-customers through ATM advertisements.

Despite these limitations, however, the Illinois EFTA expressly permits a financial institution to advertise any of its products or services on ATM terminal screens “when a person uses an access device issued by that financial institution.” Consequently, you may advertise any of your bank’s products and services on the screens of ATMs that are accessible to non-customers if you can design and implement an advertisement that is visible only to your customers after they insert a card issued by your bank.

While we are not aware of any federal law on point, we note that all ATM advertisements to your customers must comply with both state and federal advertising laws, including the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, Truth in Lending Act, Regulation Z, and several others.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois EFTA, 205 ILCS 616/50(d) (“When used to perform an interchange transaction, a terminal shall not bear any form of proprietary advertising of products and services not offered at the terminal; provided, however, that a terminal screen may bear proprietary advertising of products or services offered by a financial institution when a person uses an access device issued by that financial institution.”)

• IDFPR Interpretive Letter 10-03 (“Advertisements for proprietary products and services can be made to customers of an advertising bank in limited circumstances. Section 50(d) of the EFT Act allows an advertising bank to advertise its products and services on a terminal screen to customers who are account holders of the bank. Customers who do not hold an account at the advertising bank may not be solicited. [205 ILCS 616/50(d).] In any event, section 50(b) prohibits any form of solicitation to any customer that does not use an advertising bank issued access device when using an ATM.”)

• Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act,  815 ILCS 505 (prohibiting false or misleading advertising)

• Truth in Lending Act, 15 USC 1663 and 15 USC 1664 (listing adverting requirements and restrictions for open end credit plans and closed end credit plans)

• Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.16 and 12 CFR 1026.24 (listing adverting requirements and restrictions for open end credit plans and closed end credit plans)