[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38827-38829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13942]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency


Agency Information Collection Activities: Information Collection 
Revision; Comment Request; Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer Act; 
Prepaid Account Provisions

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

[[Page 38828]]

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 the renewal of its information collection titled 
``Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer Act; Prepaid Card 
Provisions.''

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 29, 2022.

ADDRESSES:  Commenters are encouraged to submit comments by email, if 
possible. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9eeeecfff7f0f8f1def1fdfdb0eaecfbffedb0f9f1e8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cebebcafa7a0a8a18ea1adade0babcabafbde0a9a1b8">[email protected]</span></a>.
    <bullet> Mail: Chief Counsel's Office, Attention: Comment 
Processing, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Attention: 1557-
0346, 400 7th Street SW, suite 3E-218, Washington, DC 20219.
    <bullet> Hand Delivery/Courier: 400 7th Street SW, Suite 3E-218, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    <bullet> Fax: (571) 465-4326.
    Instructions: You must include ``OCC'' as the agency name and 
``1557-0346'' 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.
    Following the close of this notice's 60-day comment period, the OCC 
will publish a second notice with a 30-day comment period. You may 
review comments and other related materials that pertain to this 
information collection beginning on the date of publication of the 
second notice for this collection by the method set forth in the next 
bullet.
    <bullet> Viewing Comments Electronically: Go to www.reginfo.gov. 
Hover over the ``Information Collection Review'' drop down menu and 
click on ``Information Collection Review.'' From the ``Currently under 
Review'' drop-down menu, select ``Department of Treasury'' and then 
click ``submit.'' This information collection can be located by 
searching by OMB control number ``1557-0346'' or ``Regulation E--
Electronic Fund Transfer Act; Prepaid Card Provisions.'' 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.
    <bullet> For assistance in navigating www.reginfo.gov, please 
contact the Regulatory Information Service Center at (202) 482-7340.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shaquita Merritt, OCC Clearance 
Officer, (202) 649-5490, Chief Counsel's Office, Office of the 
Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. 
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please 
dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

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. 
Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of title 44 requires Federal agencies to provide 
a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed 
collection of information, including each proposed revision of an 
existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to 
OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, the OCC is 
publishing this notice.
    Title: Regulation E--Electronic Fund Transfer Act; Prepaid Account 
Provisions.
    OMB Control Nos.: 1557-0346.
    Type of Review: Regular review.
    Description: The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) \1\ and 
Regulation E \2\ require disclosure of basic terms, costs, and rights 
relating to electronic fund transfer services debiting or crediting a 
consumer's account.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq.
    \2\ 12 CFR part 1005.
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    The prepaid accounts final rules issued by the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau (CFPB) \3\ 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 2017 and 2018 rules. The remainder of Regulation E is 
approved under OMB Control No. 1557-0176.
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    \3\ 81 FR 83934 (November 22, 2016), 82 FR 18975 (April 25, 
2017), and 83 FR 6364 (February 13, 2018).
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    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. 
Section 1005.18(f)(3) generally requires that certain disclosures, 
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, be made on the actual 
prepaid account access device.
    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,\4\ 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.
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    \4\ 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) 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.
    Under Sec.  1005.18(c)(1), a financial institution need not furnish 
periodic statements to the consumer if the provider uses the 
alternative method of compliance. Under this alternative method, the 
periodic statements must include: (1) the consumer's account balance, 
through a readily available phone number; (2) the means by which

[[Page 38829]]

the consumer can obtain an electronic account history, such as the 
address of a website; and (3) a written history of the consumer's 
account transactions that is provided promptly in response to an oral 
or written request and that covers at least 24 months preceding the 
date the financial institution receives the consumer's request. 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 history of account transactions provided or 
made available by the financial institution.
    For prepaid accounts that are not payroll card accounts or 
government benefit accounts, a financial institution is not required to 
comply with the liability limits and error resolution requirements of 
Regulation E for any prepaid account for which it has not successfully 
completed its consumer identification and verification process, 
provided certain disclosures are given. With regard to accounts where 
the consumer's identity is later verified, financial institutions must 
limit the consumer's liability for unauthorized transfers and resolve 
errors that occur following verification in accordance with relevant 
Reg. E provisions. 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.\5\
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    \5\ 12 CFR 1005.18(e)(3)(ii)(C).
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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 not obtained a consumer's consent to 
provide disclosures in electronic form pursuant to the E-Sign Act, or 
is not otherwise already mailing or delivering to the consumer written 
account-related communications, the financial institution may provide 
to the consumer a notice of a change in terms and conditions or 
required or voluntary updated initial disclosures under Reg. E taking 
effect in electronic form without regard to the consumer notice and 
consent requirements 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 produced 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. A financial institution that has not obtained the 
consumer's contact information is not required to comply with the 
requirements set forth in Sec.  1005.18(h)(2)(ii) or (iii).
    Section 1005.19(b) requires certain issuers to submit to the CFPB, 
on a rolling basis, 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). 
Changes in agreement provisions or fee information may be integrated 
into the text of the agreement or provided through fee addenda.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit.
    Burden Estimates:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,106.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 6,605 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice will be 
summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments 
will become a matter of public record. Comments are 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, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Theodore J. Dowd,
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
[FR Doc. 2022-13942 Filed 6-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-33-P


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