Compliance Blog

Written by Michael Coleman, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

ATM Fee Disclosure Bill. On Thursday, December 20^th, 2012, President Obama signed the ATM Fee Disclosure bill (H.R. 4367) into law. We previously blogged about the impact this law has for credit unions, including the reduction of litigation risk, state law impacts, removal of the physical signs, and updates to Regulation E.

Now that the bill has been signed into law, the federal requirement for posting a physical notice on the ATM itself has been removed. Therefore, the credit union’s litigation and compliance risk going forward was reduced effective December 20, 2012.  This will allow credit unions to reduce the time and effort and costs spent tracking, photographing, documenting and auditing the notices on your ATMs.

State Law. As noted before, although the federal requirement for the physical notices has been eliminated, there still may be state laws which require a physical notice on ATMs. Two states that we are aware of that have such laws are New York (NY Gen Bus § 399-y) and Nevada (Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 660.052). You might want to check your own state’s laws and perhaps consult your local counsel with regards to any state law requirements that might affect your credit union. If you find applicable state law citations, please feel free to let us know.  

Removal of Notices. While the notices are no longer required on the actual ATMs, there is really no harm in leaving them there, and no reason to immediately remove the existing notices from the machines. The extra notice provided by the sign is still a service to member and non-member ATM users, and as mentioned above, there may be state law requirements for on machine disclosures.

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2013 HMDA Asset Threshold. On December 28, 2012 the CFPB announced  the 2013 HMDA asset threshold, the final rule was published in the Federal Register on December 31, 2012. Institutions with assets of $42 million or less as of December 31, 2012, are exempt from HMDA reporting in 2013. The CFPB was a bit more timely with the publication of the threshold this year (they announced the 2012 threshold on February 15, 2012), let’s hope the trend continues.

HMDA Data Entry Software.  The free FFIEC HMDA Data Entry Software, version 2013 for calendar year 2013 data due March 3, 2014 is now available for download.

NCUA HMDA Webinar. NCUA will host a free webinar on January 24, 2013 at 2pm EST entitled “HMDA: Accuracy and Timeliness.” During the webinar experts from NCUA and the Federal Reserve Board will:

• address common errors identified in HMDA LAR data and submissions;
• provide tips for preparing and submitting accurate and timely HMDA LARs; and
• discuss financial institution management responsibilities in the HMDA process.

You can register for the webinar here. See NCUA’s press release for more details.

2012 HDMA Data. Reminder: For those credit unions over the 2012 threshold, your HDMA data for calendar year 2012 must be submitted by March 1, 2013.

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Redskins, Again. Last week was the end of the NFL’s regular season, and the Redskins came up big time defeating Dallas to win the NFC East for the first time since 1999 and secure their first playoff berth since 2007. Needless to say, this weekend’s playoff game against Seattle has this Skins fan excited!