I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 928 
To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to extend certain consumer 
protections to international remittance transfers of funds originating 
in the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 17, 2005 
Mr. GUTIERREZ (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. MALONEY, 
Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. 
CROWLEY, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. LEE, Mr. ACKERMAN, and Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee 
on International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to extend cer-
tain consumer protections to international remittance 
transfers of funds originating in the United States, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Remit-
tance Consumer Protection Act of 2005’’ .
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) In 2003, worker remittances from the 
United 
States 
to 
Latin 
America 
reached 
$31,000,000,000 and that volume is expected to rise 
as the region is both the fastest growing remittance 
market in the world and has the highest volume of 
remittances in the world. 
(2) Of the $31,000,000,000 in remittances to 
Latin America, $14,000,000,000 went to Mexico: an 
amount exceeding the country’s total revenues from 
tourism, and representing more than 2⁄3 of the value 
of petroleum exports and roughly 180 percent of the 
amount of agricultural exports. 
(3) Remittances account for at least 10 percent 
of the gross domestic product of 6 countries in Latin 
America: Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Jamaica, 
the Dominican Republic, and Guyana. 
(4) The Declaration of Nuevo Leo´n from the 
January 2004 Special Summit of the Americas rec-
ognized that ‘‘. . . remittances are an important 
source of capital in many countries of the Hemi-
sphere . . .’’. 
(5) The Declaration of Nuevo Leo´n also com-
mitted the countries of the Americas to ‘‘. . . take 
concrete actions to promote the establishment, as
soon as possible, of necessary conditions, in order to 
achieve the goal of reducing by at least half the re-
gional average cost of these transfers no later than 
2008’’. 
(6) Studies have shown that that, on average, 
around 10 percent of remittances received are saved 
or invested by the recipients which supports 2 con-
clusions: That some percentage of recipients are 
therefore in a position to use remittance money to 
create new businesses and that financial institutions 
can also use remittances as the basis of credit for 
entrepreneurs starting small or micro-enterprises. 
(7) Since affordable, long-term mortgages are 
not widely available in many countries of the West-
ern Hemisphere, financial institutions can increase 
the number of mortgages they provide to poor people 
in the region by using remittances as the basis for 
credit. 
(8) The Multilateral Investment Fund of the 
Inter-American Development Bank estimates that in 
February of 2004, the average cost in the United 
States of sending a remittance to a Latin American 
country was roughly 8 percent of the amount remit-
ted.
(9) The Multilateral Investment Fund also esti-
mates that roughly 61 percent of adult foreign-born 
Hispanic persons living in the United States, about 
10,000,000 people, send remittances to their coun-
tries of origin in Latin America and that the amount 
of the average remittance to Latin America ranges 
between $200 and $300. 
(10) The Multilateral Investment Fund esti-
mates that the States of California, New York, 
Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey each remit 
more than $1,000,000,000 annually to Latin Amer-
ica, and will account for $21,700,000,000, or rough-
ly 70 percent of the $31,000,000,000 in remittances 
going to Latin America in 2004. 
(11) Recent surveys show that nearly 80 per-
cent of individuals sending remittances use inter-
national money transfer companies, and fewer than 
10 percent use banks and credit unions. 
(12) Roughly 1⁄2 of Latin American immigrants 
in the United States hold bank accounts, and only 
10 percent of the recipients in Latin America of re-
mittances from the United States hold bank ac-
counts. 
(13) Individuals and families without access to 
the banking system, in the United States and else-
where in the Americas, pay higher fees, have dif-
ficulty conducting financial transactions, and lack 
the ability to establish credit records or obtain other 
benefits from financial institutions. 
(14) The Federal banking agencies (as defined 
in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act) 
recently agreed to notify financial institutions that 
the remittances services they offer to consumers can 
receive consideration in any evaluation under the 
Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 as both a re-
tail service, and as a community development service 
if remittances serve to increase access to financial 
services by low- and moderate-income individuals. 
(15) The Federal banking agencies also agreed 
that current regulations under the Community Rein-
vestment Act of 1977 provide for a distinction be-
tween the mere provision of remittances services by 
a financial institution and the ‘‘responsiveness’’ of 
such services to the financial services needs of low- 
and moderate-income individuals—thereby allowing 
for the consideration of lower cost remittances serv-
ices in an evaluation under such Act. 
(16) The increased participation of regulated fi-
nancial institutions, such as banks, savings associa-
tions, and credit unions, holds the potential for re-
ducing the costs of remittances while at the same 
time offering 
the 
opportunity 
to 
‘‘bank 
the 
unbanked’’ in Latin American immigrant commu-
nities in the United States. 
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF REMITTANCE TRANSFERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Electronic Fund Transfer 
Act (15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 902(b), by inserting ‘‘and remit-
tance’’ after ‘‘electronic fund’’; 
(2) by redesignating sections 918, 919, 920, 
and 921 as sections 919, 920, 921, and 922, respec-
tively; and 
(3) by inserting after section 917 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 918. REMITTANCE TRANSFERS. 
‘‘(a) DISCLOSURES REQUIRED
FOR REMITTANCE 
TRANSFERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each remittance transfer 
provider shall make disclosures to consumers, as 
specified by this section and augmented by regula-
tion of the Board. 
‘‘(2) SPECIFIC
DISCLOSURES.—In addition to 
any other disclosures applicable under this title, a 
remittance transfer provider shall clearly and con-
spicuously disclose, in writing and in a form that the
consumer may keep, to each consumer requesting a 
remittance transfer— 
‘‘(A) at the time at which the consumer 
makes the request, and prior to the consumer 
making any payment in connection with the 
transfer— 
‘‘(i) the total amount of currency that 
will be required to be tendered by the con-
sumer in connection with the remittance 
transfer; 
‘‘(ii) the amount of currency that will 
be sent to the designated recipient of the 
remittance transfer, using the values of the 
currency into which the funds will be ex-
changed; 
‘‘(iii) the total remittance transfer 
cost, identified as the ‘Total Cost’; and 
‘‘(iv) an itemization of the charges in-
cluded in clause (iii), as determined nec-
essary by the Board; and 
‘‘(B) at the time at which the consumer 
makes payment in connection with the remit-
tance transfer, if any— 
‘‘(i) a receipt showing—
‘‘(I) the information described in 
subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(II) the promised date of deliv-
ery; 
‘‘(III) the name and telephone 
number or address of the designated 
recipient; and 
‘‘(ii) a notice containing— 
‘‘(I) information about the rights 
of the consumer under this section to 
resolve errors; and 
‘‘(II) appropriate contact infor-
mation for the remittance transfer 
provider and its State licensing au-
thority and Federal or State regu-
lator, as applicable. 
‘‘(3) EXEMPTION
AUTHORITY.—The Board 
may, by rule, and subject to subsection (d)(3), per-
mit a remittance transfer provider— 
‘‘(A) to satisfy the requirements of para-
graph (2)(A) orally if the transaction is con-
ducted entirely by telephone; 
‘‘(B) to satisfy the requirements of para-
graph (2)(B) by mailing the documents re-
quired under such paragraph to the consumer
not later than 1 business day after the date on 
which the transaction is conducted, if the trans-
action is conducted entirely by telephone; and 
‘‘(C) to satisfy the requirements of sub-
paragraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) with 
1 written disclosure, but only to the extent that 
the information provided in accordance with 
paragraph (2)(A) is accurate at the time at 
which payment is made in connection with the 
subject remittance transfer. 
‘‘(b) FOREIGN LANGUAGE DISCLOSURES.—The dis-
closures required under this section shall be made in 
English and in the same languages principally used by the 
remittance transfer provider, or any of its agents, to ad-
vertise, solicit, or market, either orally or in writing, at 
that office, if other than English. 
‘‘(c) REMITTANCE TRANSFER ERRORS.— 
‘‘(1) ERROR RESOLUTION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a remittance trans-
fer provider receives oral or written notice from 
the consumer within 365 days of the promised 
date of delivery that an error occurred with re-
spect to a remittance transfer, including that 
the full amount of the funds to be remitted was 
not made available to the designated recipient