Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection Revision; Submission for OMB Review; Regulation E-Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation Z-Truth in Lending Act

Published date04 November 2019
Citation84 FR 59446
Record Number2019-23960
SectionNotices
CourtThe Comptroller Of The Currency Office
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 213 (Monday, November 4, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2019)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 59446-59449]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2019-23960]
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                DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
                Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
                Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection
                Revision; Submission for OMB Review; Regulation E--Electronic Fund
                Transfer Act and Regulation Z--Truth in Lending Act
                AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.
                ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
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                SUMMARY: The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork
                and respondent burden, invites the general public and other federal
                agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing
                information collection as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
                1995 (PRA).
                 An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and respondents are not
                required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a
                currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
                 The OCC is soliciting comment concerning revisions to the
                information collections titled ``Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer
                Act'' and ``Regulation Z--Truth in Lending Act.'' The OCC also is
                giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.
                DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 4, 2019.
                ADDRESSES: Commenters are encouraged to submit comments by email, if
                possible. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
                 Email: [email protected].
                 Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Attention: Comment
                Processing, 1557-NEW, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400
                7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, Washington, DC 20219.
                 Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218,
                Washington, DC 20219.
                 Fax: (571) 465-4326.
                 Instructions: You must include ``OCC'' as the agency name and
                ``1557-NEW'' in your comment. In general, the OCC will publish comments
                on www.reginfo.gov without change, including any business or personal
                information provided, such as name and address information, email
                addresses, or phone numbers. Comments received, including attachments
                and other supporting materials, are part of the public record and
                subject to public disclosure. Do not include any information in your
                comment or supporting materials that you consider confidential or
                inappropriate for public disclosure.
                 Additionally, please send a copy of your comments by mail to: OCC
                Desk Officer, 1557-NEW, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th
                Street NW, #10235, Washington, DC 20503 or by email to
                [email protected].
                 You may review comments and other related materials that pertain to
                this information collection \1\ following the close of the 30-day
                comment period for this notice by any of the following methods:
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                 \1\ On May 20, 2019, the OCC published a 60-day notice for this
                information collection, 84 FR 22931.
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                 Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov.
                Click on the ``Information Collection Review'' tab. Underneath the
                ``Currently under Review'' section heading, from the drop-down menu
                select ``Department of Treasury'' and then click ``submit.'' This
                information collection can be located by searching by OMB control
                number ``1557-NEW'' or ``Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer Act''
                and ``Regulation Z--Truth in Lending Act.'' Upon finding the
                appropriate information collection, click on the related ``ICR
                Reference Number.'' On the next screen, select ``View Supporting
                Statement and Other Documents'' and then click on the link to any
                comment listed at the bottom of the screen.
                 For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please
                contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at (202) 482-7340.
                 Viewing Comments Personally: You may personally inspect
                comments at the OCC, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC. For security
                reasons, the OCC requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect
                comments. You may do so by calling (202) 649-6700 or, for persons who
                are deaf or hearing impaired, TTY, (202) 649-5597. Upon arrival,
                visitors will be required to present valid government-issued photo
                identification and submit to security screening in order to inspect
                comments.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shaquita Merritt, OCC Clearance
                Officer, (202) 649-5490 or, for persons who are deaf or hearing
                impaired, TTY, (202) 649-5597, Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the
                Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219.
                [[Page 59447]]
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.),
                federal agencies must obtain approval from the OMB for each collection
                of information that they conduct or sponsor. ``Collection of
                information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) to
                include agency requests or requirements that members of the public
                submit reports, keep records, or disclose information to a third party.
                The OCC asks that it approve the information collection contained in
                this notice.
                 Title: Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation
                Z--Truth in Lending Act.
                 OMB Control Nos.: 1557-NEW.\2\
                 Type of Review: Regular review.
                 Description: The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) \3\ and
                Regulation E \4\ require disclosure of basic terms, costs, and rights
                relating to electronic fund transfer services debiting or crediting a
                consumer's account. The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) \5\ and Regulation
                Z \6\ require that the costs and terms of credit be disclosed to
                consumers.
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                 \2\ Regulations E and Z are currently covered by OMB Control No.
                1557-0176, which also covers other consumer regulations. The OCC is
                requesting a new control number for this portion of Regulations E
                and Z only.
                 \3\ 15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq.
                 \4\ 12 CFR part 1005.
                 \5\ 15 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.
                 \6\ 12 CFR part 1026.
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                 The Prepaid Accounts final rules issued by the Consumer Financial
                Protection Bureau (CFPB) \7\ require financial institutions to make
                available to consumers disclosures before a consumer acquires a prepaid
                account. This notice outlines the requirements of the 2016 rule as
                amended by the 2018 rule.
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                 \7\ 81 FR 83934 (November 22, 2016) and 83 FR 6364 (February 13,
                2018).
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                Regulation E
                 Under 12 CFR 1005.18(b), a financial institution is required to
                make available a short form and a long form disclosure before the
                consumer acquires a prepaid account, subject to certain exceptions.
                Most of the content required in the long form disclosure is already
                provided in prepaid account agreements. Section 1005.18(f)(3) requires
                that certain disclosures be made on the actual prepaid account access
                device, including the name of the financial institution and the URL of
                its website, and a telephone number the consumer may use to contact the
                financial institution about the prepaid account.
                 Financial institutions offering prepaid accounts that qualify for
                the retail location exception in Sec. 1005.18(b)(1)(ii) may meet the
                requirement of providing the long form disclosure after acquisition by
                allowing the long form disclosure to be delivered electronically,
                without receiving consumer consent under the E-Sign Act,\8\ if the
                disclosure is not provided inside the prepaid account packaging
                material and the financial institution is not otherwise mailing or
                delivering to the consumer written account-related communications
                within 30 days of obtaining the consumer's contact information. If a
                financial institution provides pre-acquisition disclosures in writing
                and a consumer subsequently completes the acquisition process online or
                by telephone, the financial institution is not required to provide the
                disclosures again either electronically or orally. Financial
                institutions that disclose additional fee types with three or more fee
                variations may consolidate them into two categories and disclose them
                on the short form.
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                 \8\ Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act
                (E-Sign Act) (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.).
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                 Section 1005.18(b)(9)(i)(C) includes a requirement that a financial
                institution provide pre-acquisition disclosures in a foreign language
                if the financial institution provides a means for the consumer to
                acquire a prepaid account by telephone or electronically principally in
                that foreign language. That requirement is not applicable to payroll
                card accounts and government benefit accounts where the foreign
                language is offered by telephone only via a real-time language
                interpretation service provided by a third party or directly by an
                employer or government agency on an informal or ad hoc basis as an
                accommodation to prospective payroll card account or government benefit
                account recipients.
                 Section 1005.18(c)(1) requires financial institutions to furnish
                periodic statements to the consumer unless the provider uses the
                alternative method of compliance. Under this alternative method, the
                periodic statements must include: (1) A telephone number that the
                consumer may call to obtain the account balance; (2) the means by which
                the consumer can obtain an electronic account history, such as the
                address of a website; and (3) a summary of the consumer's right to
                receive a written account history upon request (in place of the summary
                of the right to receive a periodic statement required by Sec.
                1005.7(b)(6)), including a telephone number to call to request a
                history. Section 1005.18(c)(5) requires that financial institutions
                disclose to consumers a summary total of the amount of all fees
                assessed against the consumer's prepaid account for both the prior
                month as well as the calendar year to date. This information must be
                disclosed on any periodic statement and any electronic or written
                history of account transactions provided or made available by the
                financial institution.
                 The limited liability and error provisions of Regulation E now
                extend to all prepaid accounts, except those that have not successfully
                completed the financial institution's consumer identification and
                verification process. With regard to accounts where the consumer's
                identity is later verified, financial institutions are not required to
                resolve errors and limit liability for disputed transactions occurring
                prior to the verification. For accounts in programs where there is no
                verification process, financial institutions must either explain in
                their initial disclosures their error resolution process and
                limitations on consumers' liability for unauthorized transfers, or
                explain that there are no such protections, and that such financial
                institutions comply with the process (if any) that they disclose.\9\
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                 \9\ 12 CFR 1005.18(e)(1) and (2).
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                 Pursuant to Sec. 1005.18(h)(1), except as provided in Sec.
                1005.18(h)(2) and (3), the effective date for the Prepaid Accounts
                Rules is April 1, 2019. If, as a result of Sec. 1005.18(h)(1), a
                financial institution changes the terms and conditions of a prepaid
                account, such that a change-in-terms notice would have been required
                under Sec. 1005.8(a) or Sec. 1005.18(f)(2) for existing customers,
                the financial institution must notify consumers with accounts acquired
                before April 1, 2019, at least 21 days in advance of the change
                becoming effective, provided the financial institution has the
                consumer's contact information. If the financial institution obtains
                the consumer's contact information fewer than 30 days in advance of the
                change becoming effective or after it has become effective, the
                financial institution is permitted instead to provide notice of the
                change within 30 days of obtaining the consumer's contact information.
                 If a financial institution has received an E-Sign consent from the
                consumer, the financial institution may notify the consumer
                electronically. Otherwise, if a financial institution mails or delivers
                written communications to the consumer within the applicable time
                period, that financial institution must send a notice in physical form.
                If the financial institution will not mail or deliver communications to
                the consumer within the applicable time period, then the financial
                institution may notify the consumer in electronic form without regard
                to the consumer
                [[Page 59448]]
                notice and consent requirements of section 101(c) of the E-Sign Act.
                 Section 1005.18(h)(2)(ii) requires that financial institutions
                notify any consumer, who acquires a prepaid account after the effective
                date specified in packaging printed prior to the effective date, of any
                changes as a result of Sec. 1005.18(h)(1) taking effect that would
                have caused a change-in-terms notice to be required under Sec.
                1005.8(a) or Sec. 1005.18(f)(2) for existing customers within 30 days
                of acquiring the customer's contact information. In addition, financial
                institutions must mail or deliver updated initial disclosures pursuant
                to Sec. Sec. 1005.7 and 1005.18(f)(1) within 30 days of obtaining the
                consumer's contact information. Those financial institutions that are
                affected should not incur significant costs associated with notifying
                consumers and providing updated initial disclosures. Consumers who have
                consented to electronic communication may receive the notices and
                updated disclosures electronically, at a minimal cost to financial
                institutions. Those consumers who cannot be contacted electronically
                may receive the notices and updated initial disclosures together with
                another scheduled mailing within the 30-day time period. Any remaining
                consumers who are not scheduled to receive mailings may be notified
                without regard to the consumer notice and consent requirements of
                section 101(c) of the E-Sign Act.
                 Section 1005.19(b) requires certain issuers to submit to the CFPB,
                on a rolling basis, short form disclosures, prepaid account agreements
                (including fee schedules) that are offered, amended, or withdrawn.
                Prepaid account issuers are permitted to delay submitting a change in
                the list of names of other relevant parties to a particular prepaid
                account agreement until the earlier of such time as the issuer is
                otherwise submitting an amended agreement or changes to other
                identifying information about the issuer and its submitted agreements
                to the CFPB, or May 1 of each year (for updates between the last
                submission and April 1 of that year). Short form and long form
                disclosures may be provided to the CFPB as separate addenda to the
                agreement, rather than integrated into the agreement or as a single
                addendum.
                Regulation Z
                 The CFPB's rules cover overdraft credit features offered in
                connection with prepaid accounts where the credit features are offered
                by the prepaid account issuer, its affiliates, or its business partners
                with certain exceptions. The CFPB is expanding the exception in 12 CFR
                1026.61(a)(4) that allows prepaid account issuers to provide certain
                incidental forms of credit structured as a negative balance on the
                asset feature of prepaid accounts without triggering Regulation Z and
                the other protections for hybrid prepaid-credit cards. Previously, the
                exception only applied where (1) the prepaid card could not access
                credit from a covered separate credit feature accessible by a hybrid
                prepaid-credit card; (2) the prepaid account issuer had a general
                policy and practice of declining transactions that will take the
                account negative; and (3) the prepaid account issuer customarily did
                not charge credit-related fees. Section 1026.61(a)(4), as amended,
                permits a prepaid account issuer to take advantage of the exception
                with respect to the negative balance even if a covered separate credit
                feature offered by a business partner is attached to the prepaid
                account, so long as the other requirements are met.
                 Creditors offering these covered overdraft credit features in
                connection with a prepaid account are required to inform consumers of
                the costs and terms before consumers use the credit feature and inform
                consumers of certain subsequent changes to the terms of the credit
                feature. The initial required information includes the finance charge
                and other charges, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), a description of
                how balances subject to a finance charge are calculated, and any
                collateral used to secure repayment. If the creditor changes certain
                terms initially disclosed, or increases the minimum periodic payment, a
                written change-in-terms notice generally must be provided to the
                consumer at least 45 days prior to the effective date of the change.
                 Creditors are required to provide a written periodic statement of
                activity for each billing cycle. The statement must be provided for
                each account that has a balance of more than $1 or on which a finance
                charge is imposed, and the statement must include a description of
                activity on the account, the opening and closing balances, any finance
                charges imposed, and payment information.
                 Creditors are required to notify consumers about their rights and
                responsibilities regarding billing errors and must provide either a
                complete statement of billing rights annually or a summary of those
                billing rights and responsibilities on each periodic statement. If a
                consumer alleges a billing error, the creditor must provide, within 30
                days of receipt, an acknowledgment that the creditor received the
                consumer's error notice. The creditor must report on the results of its
                investigation within 90 days. If a billing error did not occur, the
                creditor must provide an explanation as to why the creditor believed an
                error did not occur and provide documentary evidence to the consumer
                upon request. The creditor must also notify the consumer of the portion
                of the disputed amount and related finance or other charges that the
                consumer still owed and when payment of those amounts was due.
                 Persons offering these covered overdraft credit features in
                connection with a prepaid account are required when advertising their
                products to include certain basic credit information if the
                advertisement refers to specified credit terms or costs. Persons
                offering these features in connection with a prepaid account are
                required to send copies of the overdraft credit feature agreement to
                the CFPB. Lastly, persons offering these features in connection with a
                prepaid account must provide additional disclosures with solicitations
                and applications. Such card issuers must disclose key terms of the
                account, such as the APR, information about variable rates, and fees
                such as annual fees, minimum finance charges, and transaction fees for
                purchases.
                 Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit entities.
                 Burden Estimates:
                 Regulation E:
                 Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,106.
                 Estimated Annual Burden: 6,605 hours.
                 Regulation Z: The CFPB has indicated that the only respondents
                affected by these changes are those that they regulate. Therefore, the
                OCC will not be taking any burden for these changes.
                 Frequency of Response: On occasion.
                 Comments: On May 20, 2019, the OCC issued a notice for 60 days of
                comment concerning the collection, 84 FR 22931. No comments were
                received. Comments continue to be invited on:
                 (a) Whether the collections of information are necessary for the
                proper performance of the functions of the OCC, including whether the
                information has practical utility;
                 (b) The accuracy of the OCC's estimates of the information
                collection burden;
                 (c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
                information to be collected;
                 (d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection on respondents,
                including through the use of automated collection techniques or other
                forms of information technology; and
                 (e) Estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation,
                [[Page 59449]]
                maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
                 Dated: October 25, 2019.
                Theodore J. Dowd,
                Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
                [FR Doc. 2019-23960 Filed 11-1-19; 8:45 am]
                 BILLING CODE 4810-33-P
                

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