The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today proposed an American Bankers Association-advocated change to its remittance rule that would permanently allow depository institutions to estimate certain fees and exchange rates when making disclosures to their customers. Institutions are currently allowed to do so under a temporary provision of the rule, which is set to expire in July 2020. ABA noted in previous comments that extending the temporary provision was vital to ensuring that consumers can continue to have access to remittances.
The proposal would also increase the threshold at which institutions are considered to be “remittance transfer providers” from 100 to 500, as ABA also urged in its comment letter. The bureau noted that increasing this safe harbor threshold would reduce the regulatory burden on more than 400 banks that send a relatively small number of remittances each year. Comments on the proposal are due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.
