With a key exception of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s remittance rule set to expire in July 2020, a group of Republican lawmakers wrote to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger today urging the bureau to “take every available step” to ensure that consumers may continue to access remittance services. The current exception allows depository institutions to estimate certain fees and exchange rates when making disclosures to their customers about remittance transactions.
The lawmakers noted that it is virtually impossible for depository institutions to calculate the exact cost of certain remittance transactions, and that if the exemption were allowed to expire, it could cause many to stop offering remittance services due to increased compliance risk. They urged the bureau to make the exemption permanent “so financial institutions are able to make long-term decisions regarding the provision of these services.”
In previous comments, ABA also recommended that the CFPB use its authority permit banks to provide estimated disclosures, highlighting that the current use of estimates has never been the subject of consumer complaints.
