CFPB: 2014 International Remittance Transfers Proposed Rule |
Executive Summary
•  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently issued a proposed rule to modify its international remittance transfers rule. The proposal would extend for an additional five years a temporary provision that permits federally-insured credit unions and other depository institutions to estimate certain pricing disclosures, and make other clarifications. This temporary provision is set to expire on July 21, 2015.
•  Also, the proposal would make several clarifications and technical corrections, including to:
     1. Consider whether U.S. military installations abroad should be considered being located in a U.S. state or a foreign country for purposes of the remittance rule;
     2. Clarify that transfers from accounts primarily used for personal, family, or household purposes would be subject to the remittance rule, but transfers from non-consumer accounts would not be subject to the rule;
     3. Clarify that faxes are considered writings and would not be subject to additional requirements for electronic disclosures; and, separately, in certain circumstances, a remittance transfer provider may conduct the transaction orally and entirely by telephone after receiving a remittance inquiry from a consumer in writing (e.g., if a sender physically abroad a U.S. branch of a sender’s institution attempts to initiate a transfer by first sending a mailed letter, and further communication by letter may be impractical.); and
     4. Clarify that a provider’s failure to deliver a transfer by the disclosed date of availability is not an error if such failure was caused by a delay related to a necessary investigation or other action to address BSA, OFAC, or similar requirements; and, separately, to clarify remedies for certain errors.
•  The proposed effective date will be 30 days after publication of a final rule in the Federal Register.
•  CUNA continues to advocate to the CFPB to improve the remittance rule for credit unions. We are interested in how these proposed changes would affect the processing of international funds transfers at credit unions, corporate credit unions, and other payment providers.
•  Comments for the proposed rule are due to the CFPB by June 6, 2014 (extended from May 27); please submit your comments to CUNA by June 2.
•  If you have any questions or comments, please contact CUNA Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Research Dennis Tsang at dtsang@cuna.com.
•  For further details, please see the CFPB’s proposed rule.