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INTRODUCTION
The world of deposits and payment systems continues to change with everincreasing frequency. This survey summarizes significant recent developments that occurred in this area of the law in 2012, including new final and proposed rules from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection ("CFPB") governing international remittance transfers, a proposal by the CFPB to expand the scope of consumer protections for electronic fund transfers to cover general purpose reloadable stored value card products, and developments in overdraft programs.
REMITTANCE TRANSFERS
BACKGROUND
Every year, consumers in the United States electronically transfer tens of billions of dollars to recipients in foreign countries.1 The majority of these transfers are of low value, often made through money transmitters by migrants supporting friends and family back in their home countries.2 However, consumers also may transfer funds through banks or credit unions via international wire transfers or automated clearing house ("ACH") transactions, and the recipients of these transfers may be businesses as well as individuals.3
Historically, these transfers were not subject to the protections of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act ("EFTA").4 However, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act")5 closed this gap by amending the EFTA to provide new protections for consumers making international electronic transfers. Pursuant to its mandate under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB adopted the Final Rule,6 creating new subpart ? to Regulation E to establish new disclosure requirements and error-resolution procedures for consumers' international transactions, referred to as "remittance transfers."7 The Final Rule's application is broad; a bank or a nonbank entity may be a remittance transfer provider ("RTP") subject to its requirements.8 The Final Rule was scheduled to become effective February 7, 2013.9 However, the CFPB subsequently issued a proposal10 to revise certain provisions of the Final Rule and to extend and delay temporarily the Final Rule's effective date until ninety days after the Proposed Rule is finalized.11
Remittances may be conducted over closed or open network systems. In a closed system, the RTP operates within a network of other partners that help complete the transaction, exercising some control over the transfer from beginning to end.12 In contrast, an RTP operating in an open network system has no direct relationship with all participants that may collect the funds domestically and disburse them...