Consistent with their Fall 2019 rulemaking agenda, the CFPB on 12/3/19 announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) relating to remittance transfers.
As a background, the remittance transfer rules generally require companies that provide remittance transfers in the normal course of business to disclose to consumers certain fees and the exchange rates that apply to transfers. The current remittance transfer rule also includes an exception for certain credit unions and banks where they are permitted to estimate certain fee and exchange rate information instead of providing exact amounts. This exception, however, is set to expire in July of 2020.
Therefore, the CFPB is issuing a NPRM that would extend and expand an exception for certain credit unions and banks. Specifically, the Bureau is proposing to increase the safe harbor threshold that determines whether a company makes remittance transfers in the normal course of its business from 100 to 500 or fewer transfers (annually in the current and prior calendar years). According to the CFPB, this would reduce the burden on over 400 banks and almost 250 credit unions that send a relatively small number of remittances—less than .06 percent of all remittances.
Comments are due 45 days after publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register.
The NPRM can be found here.
