CFPB Revises International Money Transfer Rule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has announced an amendment to its remittance rule under The Electronic Transfer Act that creates protections for consumers that send money overseas via international money transfers. The CFPB also extended the effective date of the Final Rule to October 28, 2013. The extension doubles the proposed period of 90 days, and will give remittance transfer providers almost six months to meet the requirements of the Final Rule. The amendments were fundamentally meant to ease the burden of disclosures of foreign taxes and fees imposed on a bank for receiving international money transfers. The new amendment does not require a report on foreign taxes of regional, provincial, state or other local governments. The requirement that providers disclose foreign taxes or fees imposed by the recipient’s institution for receiving transfers into an account has been made optional.