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Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 5.1.5.2.1b Demand deposit and savings accounts

The term “demand deposit” account is not defined in either the EFTA or Regulation E. However, Regulation E does indicate that a demand deposit account means checking account.68 The CFPB has also stated that a “demand deposit account is just a different term for a checking account.”69 The term is also sometimes understood to include checkless checking accounts.

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 5.5.4.4 Potential for Unlimited Liability

Whether or not an access device was lost or stolen, the consumer’s liability is potentially unlimited if unauthorized charges are not reported within sixty days of the statement (or longer in certain situations). That unlimited liability, however, only applies to charges after the applicable reporting deadline, and only if they could have been prevented with timely notice.

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 5.6.3.2 Financial Institutions May Not Impose a Fee for Investigations

The institution is prohibited from imposing a fee or other charge upon the consumer for the investigation if a billing error has occurred, even if the error occurred in a different amount or manner than was alleged by the consumer.930 This includes any charge related to the investigation or to documentation, and also any fee for contacting customer service to inquire about a transaction or assert an error.931

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 6.6.4.2a Bonds and Permissible Investments

In every state that has a money transmitter law, transmitters are required to post a surety bond or deliver a comparable form of security to the state.387 The amount of money that must be posted differs by state and varies depending on the number of locations, the financial strength of the licensee, and other factors. The median minimum bond obligation is $75,000 and the median maximum bond requirement is $500,000.388

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 4.5.9.7 Bank Policies Limiting Cash Withdrawals

Even if the EFAA requires funds to be made available, a bank may still have a policy limiting the amount that may be withdrawn in cash in a single day. The funds availability rules do not supersede any policy of a depositary bank that limits the amount of cash a customer may withdraw from its account on any one day, if that policy:

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 6.5.2.1a Exemptions from Regulation E Protections for Remittances

The CFPB’s original regulations for remittances, adopted in 2013, excluded from the definition of “remittance transfer provider” those providers who, in the normal course of business, provided 100 or fewer remittance transfers in both the previous and the current calendar year.166 The 2020 amendments to these regulations increased the threshold to 500 or fewer remittance transfers in both the previous and current calendar year.167

Consumer Banking and Payments Law: 1.5.10.2a Breach of Contract

Claims that banks breached their contracts with depositors by, for example, failing to abide by a clause promising to notify depositors in advance of any fee changes or by charging overdraft fees when the account was not overdrawn are not preempted.211 The savings clause of OCC’s preemption regulation explicitly preserves state contract law.212