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  • CFPB releases EFTA FAQs

    Federal Issues

    On December 13, the CFPB released updated Electronic Fund Transfers FAQs, which pertain to compliance with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and Subpart A to Regulation E. The updated topics include transaction coverage, financial institution coverage, error resolution, and unauthorized EFT error resolution. Highlights from the updated FAQs include:

    • Person-to-person (P2P) payments can be unauthorized electronic transfers under Regulation E.
    • “[A] ‘pass-through’ payment transfers funds from the consumer’s account held by an external financial institution to another person’s account held by an external financial institution,” which is “initiated through a financial institution that does not hold a consumer’s account, for example, a non-bank P2P provider.”
    • “Regulation E section 1005.2(i) defines financial institution under EFTA and Regulation E to include banks, savings associations, credit unions, and: any other person that directly or indirectly holds an account belonging to a consumer, or any other person that issues an access device and agrees with a consumer to provide electronic fund transfer (EFT) services.”
    • “Any P2P payment provider that meets the definition of a financial institution, as discussed in Electronic Fund Transfers Coverage: Financial Institutions Question 1, is a financial institution under Regulation E.” Therefore, “if a P2P payment provider directly or indirectly holds an account belonging to a consumer, they are considered a financial institution under Regulation E.”
    • The transfer is considered to be an unauthorized EFT under Regulation E if a consumer’s account is obtained from a third party through fraudulent means (hacking), and a hacker utilizes that information to make an unauthorized electronic transfer from the consumer’s account.
    • “Although private network rules and other commercial agreements may provide for interbank finality and irrevocability, they do not reduce consumer protections against liability for unauthorized EFTs afforded by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act…. Accordingly, any financial institution in this transaction must comply with the error resolution requirements discussed in Electronic Fund Transfers Error Resolution Question 2, as well as the liability protections for unauthorized transfers.”

    Federal Issues CFPB Consumer Finance EFTA Electronic Fund Transfer Regulation E

  • CFPB supervisory highlights cover wide range of violations

    Federal Issues

    On December 8, the CFPB released its fall 2021 Supervisory Highlights, which details its supervisory and enforcement actions in the areas of credit card account management, debt collection, deposits, fair lending, mortgage servicing, payday lending, prepaid accounts, and remittance transfers. The report’s findings cover examinations that were completed between January and June of 2021 in addition to prior supervisory findings that led to public enforcement actions in the first half of 2021. Highlights of the examination findings include:

    • Credit Card Account Management. Bureau examiners identified violations of Regulation Z related to billing error resolution, including instances where creditors failed to (i) resolve disputes within two complete billing cycles after receiving a billing error notice; (ii) reimburse late fees after determining a missed payment was not credited to a consumer’s account; and (iii) conduct reasonable investigations into billing error notices concerning missed payments and unauthorized transactions. Examiners also identified deceptive acts or practices related to credit card issuers’ advertising practices.
    • Debt Collection. The Bureau found instances of FDCPA violations where debt collectors represented to consumers that their creditworthiness would improve upon final payment under a repayment plan and the deletion of the tradeline. Because credit worthiness is impacted by numerous factors, examiners found “that such representations could lead the least sophisticated consumer to conclude that deleting derogatory information would result in improved creditworthiness, thereby creating the risk of a false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect a debt in violation of Section 807(10).”
    • Deposits. The Bureau discussed violations related to Regulation E, including error resolution violations related to misdirected payment transfers and failure to investigate error notices where consumers alleged funds were sent via a person-to-person payment network but the intended recipient did not receive the funds.
    • Fair Lending. The report noted instances where examiners cited violations of ECOA and Regulation B by lenders "discriminating against African American and female borrowers in the granting of pricing exceptions based upon competitive offers from other institutions,” which led to observed pricing disparities, specifically as compared to similarly situated non-Hispanic white and male borrowers. Among other things, examiners also observed that lenders’ policies and procedures contributed to pricing discrimination, and that lenders improperly inquired about small business applicants’ religion and considered religion in the credit decision process.
    • Mortgage Servicing. The Bureau noted that it is prioritizing mortgage servicing supervision attributed to the increase in borrowers needing loss mitigation assistance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Examiners found violations of Regulations Z and X, as well as unfair and deceptive acts and practices. Unfair acts or practices included those related to (i) charging delinquency-related fees to borrowers in CARES Act forbearances; (ii) failing to terminate preauthorized EFTs; and (iii) assessing fees for services exceeding the actual cost of the performed services. Deceptive acts or practices found by examiners related to mortgage servicers included incorrectly disclosed transaction and payment information in a borrower’s online mortgage loan account. Mortgage servicers also allegedly failed to evaluate complete loss mitigation applications within 30 days, incorrectly handled partial payments, and failed to automatically terminate PMI in a timely manner. The Bureau noted in its press release that it is “actively working to support an inclusive and equitable economic recovery, which means ensuring all mortgage servicers meet their homeowner protection obligations under applicable consumer protection laws,” and will continue to work with the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, NCUA, OCC, and state financial regulators to address any compliance failures (covered by InfoBytes here). 
    • Payday Lending. The report identified unfair and deceptive acts or practices related to payday lenders erroneously debiting consumers’ loan balances after a consumer applied and received confirmation for a loan extension, misrepresenting that consumers would only pay extension fees on the original due dates of their loans, and failing to honor loan extensions. Examiners also found instances where lenders debited or attempted one or more duplicate unauthorized debits from a consumer’s bank account. Lenders also violated Regulation E by failing “to retain, for a period of not less than two years, evidence of compliance with the requirements imposed by EFTA.”
    • Prepaid Accounts. Bureau examiners found violations of Regulation E and EFTA related to stop-payment waivers at financial institutions, which, among other things, failed to honor stop-payment requests received at least three business days before the scheduled date of the transfer. Examiners also observed instances where service providers improperly required consumers to contact the merchant before processing a stop-payment request or failed to process stop-payment requests due to system limitations even if a consumer had contacted the merchant. The report cited additional findings where financial institutions failed to properly conduct error investigations.
    • Remittance Transfers. Bureau examiners identified violations of Regulation E related to the Remittance Rule, in which providers “received notices of errors alleging that remitted funds had not been made available to the designated recipient by the disclosed date of availability” and then failed to “investigate whether a deduction imposed by a foreign recipient bank constituted a fee that the institutions were required to refund to the sender, and subsequently did not refund that fee to the sender.”

    The report also highlights recent supervisory program developments and enforcement actions.

    Federal Issues CFPB Supervision Enforcement Consumer Finance Examination Credit Cards Debt Collection Regulation Z FDCPA Deposits Regulation E Fair Lending ECOA Regulation B Mortgages Mortgage Servicing Regulation X Covid-19 CARES Act Electronic Fund Transfer Payday Lending EFTA Prepaid Accounts Remittance Transfer Rule

  • District Court denies EFTA safe harbor in overdraft class action

    Courts

    On November 8, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire denied a credit union’s motion to dismiss claims concerning its overdraft fees and policies. Plaintiffs filed a putative class action alleging that the defendant failed to properly disclose how it assessed overdrafts in violation of EFTA and implementing Regulation E. According to the plaintiffs, the defendant’s overdraft fee opt-in disclosure did not provide a “clear and readily understandable” explanation of the meaning of “enough money,” nor did it specify whether overdrafts are calculated based on the actual balance or the available balance. The defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that the opt-in disclosure should be read in conjunction with a separate membership agreement that outlines the account terms and discloses the defendant’s use of the “available balance” method to determine when an account is overdrawn. The defendant further contended that it did not violate Regulation E and that it qualifies for EFTA’s safe harbor provision. The court disagreed, ruling that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged a violation of Regulation E, as it requires the opt-in disclosure to be “segregated from all other information.” Among other things, the court stated that “[c]ountless courts examining virtually identical language have agreed” that language similar to the phrase “enough money” can plausibly amount to a violation of Regulation E’s “clear and readily understandable” explanation of overdraft fees.

    With respect to defendant’s safe harbor claim, the court observed that EFTA may provide safe harbor to banks using an appropriate CFPB model clause (15 U.S.C. § 1693m(d)(2)) or a disclosure form “substantially similar” to the Bureau’s Model Form A-9, which states “[a]n overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway.” The court agreed, however, with the reasoning of several courts that using language identical to that in the A-9 does not necessarily provide safe harbor defeating plaintiffs’ claims where, as here, the plaintiffs “have plausibly stated a claim that the clause from Model Form A-9 was not ‘appropriate’ because the language did not describe [defendant’s] overdraft policy in a ‘clear and readily understandable’ way.”

    Courts EFTA Overdraft Safe Harbor Regulation E Fees Class Action Disclosures CFPB Consumer Finance

  • CFPB orders tech companies to submit payment system information

    Federal Issues

    On October 21, the CFPB issued orders to six large U.S. technology companies seeking information and data on their payment system business practices. The Bureau stated that the information is intended to help the Bureau understand how these companies use personal payments data and manage data access to users. The Bureau issued the orders citing its authority under the CFPA, Section 1022(c)(4), which grants the agency “statutory authority to order participants in the payments market to turn over information to help the Bureau monitor for risks to consumers and to publish aggregated findings that are in the public interest.” The Bureau’s press release also noted it intends to study the payment system practices of two major Chinese tech companies.

    The Bureau made available an example order that contains 55 requests seeking various information and data on several topics, including: (i) “[d]ata harvesting and monetization”; (ii) “[a]ccess restrictions and user choice”; and (iii) documents and information related to payment platforms and compliance with federal consumer protection laws, such as the EFTA and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Citing consumer data and privacy expectations, the Bureau explained that “[c]onsumers expect certain assurances when dealing with companies that move their money. They expect to be protected from fraud and payments made in error, for their data and privacy to be protected and not shared without their consent, to have responsive customer service, and to be treated equally under relevant law.”

    Director Rohit Chopra issued a statement commenting on the purpose of the orders. He noted that the Bureau’s inquiry “is one of many efforts within the Federal Reserve System to plan for the future of real-time payments” and that it “will help to inform regulators and policymakers about the future of our payments system.” 

    Federal Issues CFPB CFPA Consumer Finance Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Payments Payment Systems EFTA Gramm-Leach-Bliley

  • CFPB reaches $6 million settlement with prison financial services company

    Federal Issues

    On October 19, the CFPB issued its first enforcement action under newly-appointed Director Rohit Chopra. The consent order, issued against a provider of financial services to prisons and jails, stated that the company engaged in unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices in violation of the CFPA by charging consumers fees to access their own funds on prepaid debit cards that they were required to use. The CFPB also claimed the company violated the EFTA and implementing Regulation E by requiring consumers to sign up for its debit card as a condition of receiving gate money (i.e. “money provided under state law to help people meet their essential needs as they are released from incarceration”). According to the CFPB, the company provided approximately 1.2 million debit release cards to consumers, which replaced cash or check options previously offered by state departments of correction. In addition to forcing consumers to use the debit cards to access their funds, the company also allegedly charged consumers fees that were not authorized by the cardholder agreement and misrepresented the fees that it charged. Pursuant to the consent order, the company—which neither admitted nor denied the allegations—may only charge “a reasonable inactivity fee” if a debit card is not used for 90 days. The company is also required to pay $4 million in consumer redress and a $2 million civil money penalty.

    Chopra released a separate statement, saying the “case illustrates some of the market failures and harms that occur when the disbursement of government benefits is outsourced to third-party financial services companies that fail to adhere to the law.” He warned that the CFPB “will continue to scrutinize these companies, particularly when law violations and abuses of dominance undermine the intent of such government benefits, and where the harms fall heavily on people who are struggling financially.”

    Federal Issues CFPB Enforcement CFPA EFTA UDAAP Abusive Deceptive Unfair Regulation E Debit Cards Fees Consumer Finance

  • District Court says bank must face reopened accounts allegations

    Courts

    On September 27, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted in part and denied in part a national bank’s motion to dismiss a putative class action concerning allegations that the bank opened and reopened accounts without notifying customers. The plaintiffs alleged that they discovered the bank reopened closed accounts after receiving tax refunds and a one-off refund from a retailer. According to the plaintiffs, the bank accepted deposits into the reopened accounts and then allegedly collected funds from the accounts, resulting in unanticipated fees.

    The court issued an opinion, calling it an issue of first impression within the Third Circuit, finding that “account numbers, whether new or old, which identified or provided access to the disputed accounts opened in Plaintiffs’ names each qualified as a ‘card, code, or other means of access’ to those accounts” under [EFTA] § 1693i(a).” Since the opening of an account “necessarily must be accompanied with an account number associated with that account,” the court found that the plaintiffs sufficiently stated a claim that the bank violated § 1693i(a). Among other things, the court disagreed with the bank’s argument that it could not “have been unjustly enriched by assessing [the plaintiff] fees in exchange for her acceptance of the services [the bank] provides,” stating that the bank’s argument “either misunderstands or purposefully misconstrues the basis” for the plaintiff’s claim, which was that the bank “opened the account in her name without her permission, and therefore did not have a contractual basis for assessing such fees associated with maintaining that account[.]” The court also allowed the plaintiffs’ unjust enrichment claim and Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act claim to proceed. While the court provided the plaintiffs the opportunity to file an amended complaint to revive their dismissed breach of contract claims, their FCRA allegations were dismissed with prejudice.

    Courts EFTA Class Action State Issues

  • District Court denies bank’s motion to dismiss class action regarding overdrafts

    Courts

    On August 23, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action case, in which the plaintiff alleged that a national bank’s (defendant) overdraft opt-in notice failed to satisfy Regulation E of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), and that the bank’s assessment of overdraft fees in light of such failure violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUFTA). The plaintiff alleged that she and other members of the putative class “opted into [the defendant’s] overdraft program for debit card and ATM transactions,” and were charged overdraft fees on an “available” balance policy multiple times. However, the defendant’s opt-in disclosure agreement states that an overdraft only happens “when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway,” which is a description of the “actual” balance of an account. Accordingly, the defendant “charge[d] overdraft fees even at times when there [was] a sufficient amount of money in a consumer’s account.” The plaintiff alleged that the defendant continued this system with knowledge of EFTA’s requirements and “that its opt-in agreement did not provide an accurate, clear, and easily understandable definition of an overdraft.”

    In its motion to dismiss, the defendant argued that the plaintiff failed to state a claim alleging violations of the EFTA because, among other things: (i) when the opt-in agreement is considered together with other documents provided to the customer upon opening an account, the policies are clearly explained; and (ii) the defendant is shielded from liability under the safe harbor provisions of the EFTA, because the opt-in language utilized is identical to the CFPB’s model form. The defendant also argued that it complied with Regulation E, “because the opt-in notice it used, when read together with an ‘Account Agreement’ and ‘Overdraft Disclosure’ it says were provided to [the plaintiff] when she opened her account, made clear that it would charge overdraft fees when her ‘available balance’ fell below zero.”

    The court found that the defendant’s argument regarding compliance with Regulation E “relies on documents that are not attached to, incorporated in, or otherwise ‘integral’ to the complaint” and that Regulation E requires that the notice itself be a “segregated” document, which utilizes “clear and readily understandable” language. The court also ruled that though the defendant utilized language from the CFPB model form, the plaintiff plausibly alleges that use of the form was not “an appropriate model” since the language did not disclose the defendants overdraft program in a “clear and readily understandable” manner.

    Courts Class Action Overdraft Regulation E EFTA State Issues Disclosures CFPB

  • CFPB appeals decision on Prepaid Accounts Rule

    Courts

    On August 16, the CFPB filed its opening brief in the agency’s appeal of a district court’s December 2020 decision, which granted a payment company’s motion for summary judgment and vacated two provisions of the Bureau’s Prepaid Account Rule: (i) the short-form disclosure requirement “to the extent it provides mandatory disclosure clauses”; and (ii) the 30-day credit linking restriction. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Bureau claimed that it had authority to enforce the mandates under federal regulations, including the EFTA, TILA, and Dodd-Frank, but the district court disagreed, concluding, among other things, that the Bureau acted outside of its statutory authority with respect to the mandatory disclosure clauses of the short-form requirement in 12 CFR section 1005.18(b) by presuming that “Congress delegated power to the Bureau to issue mandatory disclosure clauses just because Congress did not specifically prohibit them from doing so.” In striking the mandatory 30-day credit linking restriction under 12 CFR section 1026.61(c)(1)(iii), the district court determined that “the Bureau once again reads too much into its general rulemaking authority,” and that neither TILA nor Dodd-Frank vest the Bureau with the authority to promulgate substantive regulations on when consumers can access and use credit linked to prepaid accounts. Moreover, the court deemed the regulatory provision to be a “substantive regulation banning a consumer’s access to and use of credit” under the disguise of a disclosure, and thus invalid. 

    In its appeal, the Bureau urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn the district court’s ruling, arguing that both the EFTA and Dodd-Frank authorize the Bureau to promulgate rules governing disclosures for prepaid accounts. “The model-clause provision simply ensures that institutions will always have a surefire way of complying with the statute, even when the Bureau’s regulations do not specify how information should be disclosed,” the CFPB said, stressing that “[n]either that provision nor anything else forecloses—let alone unambiguously forecloses—rules requiring disclosures to present specified content in a specified format so that consumers are better able to find, understand, and compare products’ terms.” The decision to adopt such rules, the Bureau added, is entitled to deference. According to the Bureau, the Prepaid Account Rule “does not make any specific disclosure clauses mandatory,” and companies are permitted to use the provided sample disclosure wording or use their own “substantially similar” wording. Additionally, the Bureau argued, among other things, that “[b]y mandating optional model clauses while remaining silent about content and formatting requirements, Congress did not ‘circumscribe[] the [agency’s] discretion’ to adopt such requirements.” Instead, the Bureau contended, “whether to adopt content and formatting requirements is left ‘to agency discretion.’” Moreover, the disputed requirements “fit comfortably” within its power to regulate disclosure standards under EFTA and Dodd-Frank, the Bureau argued, adding that the law “authorizes the Bureau to ‘prescribe rules to ensure that the features of any consumer financial product or service … are fully, accurately, and effectively disclosed to consumers.’”

    Courts CFPB Appellate Prepaid Rule D.C. Circuit Fees Disclosures Prepaid Cards EFTA TILA Dodd-Frank

  • Payday lender must comply with $50 million CFPB order

    Courts

    On July 30, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas granted a petition filed by the CFPB to enforce an administrative order that assessed more than $50 million in restitution and fines against a Delaware-based online payday lender and its CEO (collectively, “respondents”) while the parties await a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the CFPB filed an action in 2015 against the respondents for allegedly violating TILA and EFTA and for engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices concerning the terms of the loans they originated. The respondents also allegedly (i) continued to debit borrowers’ accounts using remotely created checks after consumers revoked their authorization to do so; (ii) required consumers to repay loans via pre-authorized electronic fund transfers; and (iii) deceived consumers about the cost of short-term loans by providing them with contracts that contained disclosures based on repaying the loan in one payment, while the default terms called for multiple rollovers and additional finance charges.

    In January 2021, former Director Kathy Kraninger adopted an administrative law judge’s findings and conclusions, affirming the respondents violated TILA, EFTA, and the CFPA and concluding the respondents should be held jointly and severally liable for restitution amounting to more than $38.4 million. Kraninger further held the lender liable for a $7.5 million civil penalty and the CEO liable for a civil penalty of $5 million. In March, acting Director Dave Uejio issued an order denying the respondents’ motion to stay Kraninger’s final decision pending appellate review, but granted their request for a 30-day stay to allow them the opportunity to seek a stay from the 10th Circuit. In opposition to the Bureau’s petition to enforce the final order, the CEO argued, among other things, that the final order is not valid and enforceable. The court noted, however, that it is not permitted to stay enforcement of or suspend the final order. The power to suspend the final order or stay its enforcement belongs to the 10th Circuit—a request, the court noted, that the respondents did not seek when they filed their appeal. The CEO “has not cited any authority indicating that this Court may or should refuse to grant a petition for enforcement under this statute,” the court wrote. “Accordingly, the Court grants the petition for enforcement of the Final Order, and respondents are hereby ordered to comply with the Final Order by paying the restitution and civil penalties imposed and by cooperating as directed.”

    Courts CFPB Enforcement Payday Lending TILA EFTA CFPA Unfair Deceptive

  • OCC outlines EFTA remittance transfer examination procedures

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

    On August 2, the OCC issued Bulletin 2021-33, which outlines supplemental examination procedures on remittance transfers used by OCC examiners and rescinds certain related booklets and bulletins. The examination procedures supplement EFTA procedures issued by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council that were adopted by the OCC in 2019 and address several provisions for implementing Regulation E’s requirement to disclose the exact cost of remittance transfers. These include: (i) a safe harbor threshold increase, which “excludes certain banks from the requirements for a bank that provides remittance transfers for consumers in the normal course of the bank’s business,” and (ii) certain allowable exchange rate and third-party fee disclosure exceptions. The bulletin also provides a summary of the CFPB’s Regulation E amendments concerning remittance transfers that took effect July 2020 (covered by InfoBytes here).

    Agency Rule-Making & Guidance OCC EFTA Examination Remittance Transfer Rule FFIEC Regulation E Bank Regulatory

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