In a bulletin issued today, the CFPB announced that, in December, it expects to issue a proposal to make changes to the remittance transfer rule and extend the rule’s effective date until 90 days after the proposal is finalized.  The rule is currently set to take effect on February 7, 2013 and the CFPB expects the new effective date will be “sometime during the spring of 2013.” The proposed changes are intended to address some of the concerns that have been voiced by industry.

The bulletin lists the following three topics that the CFPB plans to address in the proposal: 

• Error resolution procedures.  The CFPB intends to propose that if a remittance transfer provider can show that the transfer was deposited into a wrong account because the consumer provided incorrect information, the provider would be required to try to recover the funds but would not be liable if those efforts were unsuccessful.
• Disclosure of third party fees and foreign taxes.  The CFPB intends to propose revisions that would provide added flexibility for making these disclosures.
• Disclosure of regional and local taxes assessed in foreign countries.  The CFPB intends to propose that a provider’s obligation to disclose foreign taxes imposed on remittance transfers is limited to taxes imposed at the national level.