I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3077 

To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to ensure that customers have 

the right to immediately close any account at any insured depository 

institutions on demand, without cost to the consumer, that consumers 

receive any balance in their account immediately, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 3, 2011 

Mr. MILLER of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to ensure that 

customers have the right to immediately close any account at any insured depository institutions on demand, 

without cost to the consumer, that consumers receive 

any balance in their account immediately, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom and Mobility 

5 in Consumer Banking Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE ACT AMENDMENTS. 

2 The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1811 

3 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 

4 new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 51. RIGHT TO CLOSE PERSONAL CHECKING AND SAV6 INGS ACCOUNTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An insured depository institution 

8 may not— 

9 ‘‘(1) prohibit any person from closing a check10 ing or savings account, regardless of whether the 

11 balance in the account is positive, zero, or negative; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(2) charge any fee to close any such account. 

14 ‘‘(b) TIME LIMIT.—An account at any insured depos15 itory institution shall be closed by the institution not later 

16 than 48 hours after receiving a request from the customer 

17 to close the account. 

18 ‘‘(c) METHODS OF REQUESTING CLOSURE OF AN AC19 COUNT.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any accountholder of an 

21 account at an insured depository institution may re22 quest that the account be closed in person, over the 

23 phone, or by other electronic or remote means, as 

24 may be prescribed by regulation. 

25 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR LARGE ACCOUNTS.—Not26 withstanding paragraph (1), any insured depository 

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1 institution may require an accountholder of an ac2 count which has an outstanding balance of $25,000 

3 or more on deposit at the depository institution to 

4 close the account in person, to the extent the deposi5 tory institution has provided written notice of such 

6 requirement to the account holder at any time prior 

7 to receiving a request from the accountholder to 

8 close the account. 

9 ‘‘(d) REPAYMENT OF BALANCES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any balance in an account 

11 at an insured depository institution that is closed by 

12 the institution pursuant to a request by the 

13 accountholder shall repaid to the accountholder in 

14 accordance with the following requirements: 

15 ‘‘(A) IN PERSON.—If the request is made 

16 in person, the total amount of funds on deposit 

17 in the account shall be paid to the 

18 accountholder at the time the request is made 

19 at the consumer’s option and without a fee, by 

20 certified check provided to the consumer at the 

21 time of the request, by electronic fund transfer 

22 executed on that business day to an account 

23 designated by the consumer, or by any other 

24 means offered by the financial institution if re25 quested by the consumer. 

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1 ‘‘(B) REQUEST MADE BY OTHER MEANS.— 

2 If the request is made over the phone, or by 

3 other electronic or remote means, the total 

4 amount of funds on deposit in the account shall 

5 promptly be remitted by the institution to the 

6 accountholder at the consumer’s option and 

7 without a fee, by certified check issued on the 

8 business day on which the request is received, 

9 by electronic fund transfer executed on that 

10 business day to an account designated by the 

11 consumer, or by any other means offered by the 

12 financial institution if requested by the con13 sumer. 

14 ‘‘(2) TIME LIMIT.—In any case, the payment by 

15 an insured depository institution of the total amount 

16 of funds on deposit in an account at the institution 

17 which the accountholder has requested be closed 

18 shall be remitted to the accountholder before the end 

19 of the 3 business day period beginning when the 

20 accountholder submits such request. 

21 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON ANY FEES OR CHARGES

22 AFTER REQUEST TO CLOSE.—No insured depository in23 stitution may impose any fees or charges on any deposit 

24 account at such institution after receiving a request in ac25 cordance with subsection (c) to close the account. 

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1 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON REOPENING ACCOUNT TO

2 MAKE SUBSEQUENT PAYMENT.—No insured depository 

3 institution may reopen an account that the consumer has 

4 requested be closed in accordance with subsection (c) to 

5 apply subsequent debits, whether preauthorized or other6 wise, or for any other reason, unless the consumer ex7 pressly requests that such account be reopened. 

8 ‘‘(g) NOTICE OF SUBSEQUENT PREAUTHORIZED RE9 CURRING DEBITS.—During the 30-day period beginning 

10 on the date an account at an insured depository institution 

11 is closed pursuant to a request by the accountholder, the 

12 insured depository institution shall promptly notify the 

13 customer if a preauthorized recurring debit is directed to 

14 the account. 

15 ‘‘(h) LIMITATION ON REPORTING.— 

16 ‘‘(1) NEGATIVE BALANCE RESULTING FROM

17 FEES.—If, at the time any account at an insured de18 pository institution is closed, the account has a neg19 ative balance resulting solely from any fee assessed 

20 by the depository institution, the insured depository 

21 institution may not report the fact of the out22 standing balance or any other adverse information 

23 with respect to such account to any consumer re24 porting agency described in section 603(f) of the 

25 Fair Credit Reporting Act if such information could 

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1 be used to adversely affect the consumer’s ability to 

2 open a transaction account at another depository in3 stitution. 

4 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF NEGATIVE BALANCE RE5 SULTING FROM OVERDRAFTS.—If such information 

6 could be used to adversely affect the consumer’s 

7 ability to open a transaction account at another de8 pository institution, an insured depository institution 

9 shall not report to any consumer reporting agency 

10 (as defined in section 603 of the Fair Credit Report11 ing Act) that an account had a negative balance at 

12 the time of the closure of the account unless all of 

13 the following conditions are met: 

14 ‘‘(A) Only if the negative balance is the re15 sult of funds actually paid by the depository in16 stitution to a third party. 

17 ‘‘(B) Only for the amount it actually paid 

18 to the third party and not for any fees associ19 ated with the transaction. 

20 ‘‘(C) Only to the extent the negative bal21 ance is the result of credit extended through an 

22 overdraft line of credit program where the fee 

23 or charge incurred in connection with the over24 draft is considered a finance charge under the 

25 Truth In Lending Act. 

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1 ‘‘(3) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR REPAY2 MENT OF OVERDRAFT.—If an account of an 

3 accountholder at an insured depository institution 

4 has a negative balance at the time the account is 

5 closed, the insured depository institution— 

6 ‘‘(A) shall promptly notify the 

7 accountholder of the fact of the negative bal8 ance and the amount due; and 

9 ‘‘(B) may, after the end of the 30-day pe10 riod beginning on the date notice is provided to 

11 an accountholder under subparagraph (A)— 

12 ‘‘(i) report the fact of the outstanding 

13 balance or any other adverse information 

14 with respect to such account to any con15 sumer reporting agency, subject to the lim16 itations in paragraph (2); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) take any other collection activity 

18 with respect to such outstanding balance. 

19 ‘‘(i) TRANSFER OF DIRECT DEPOSIT RECEIVED

20 AFTER NOTICE OF CLOSURE AND PAYMENT.—If— 

21 ‘‘(1) during the 30-day period beginning after 

22 any balance in an account at an insured depository 

23 institution that is closed by the institution pursuant 

24 to a request by the accountholder has been repaid to 

25 the accountholder, a previously scheduled amount inmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 tended for direct deposit into such account is re2 ceived by such institution, and 

3 ‘‘(2) before the time such amount is received, 

4 the consumer provides the insured depository insti5 tution with an account number and insured deposi6 tory institution routing number for a successor 

7 transaction or savings account at another insured 

8 depository institution, 

9 the insured depository institution which receives such 

10 amount shall transfer such amount, without a fee and by 

11 electronic fund transfer, to the insured depository institu12 tion identified by the former accountholder for deposit in 

13 the transaction or savings account identified by such 

14 former accountholder. 

15 ‘‘(j) REGULATIONS.—The Federal banking agencies 

16 shall jointly prescribe regulations to carry out the pur17 poses of this section.’’. 

Æ 

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