Compliance Blog

Posted by Anthony Demangone

Under the final rule, the opt-in notice required by § 205.17(b)(1)(i) may not contain any information that is not specified or otherwise permitted by § 205.17(d) and must be in a form substantially similar to Model Form A-9. P. 39 of the final rule. (Emphasis added.)

So, the form must be substantially similar to the model form.  True.  True.  But you are allowed to include any information that is permitted under 205.17(d).  And that does give you some flexibility.  For example, 205.17(d)(6) outlines permissible modifications.

(6) Permitted modifications and additional content. If applicable, the institution may modify the content required by §205.17(d) to indicate that the consumer has the right to opt into, or opt out of, the payment of overdrafts under the institution's overdraft service for other types of transactions, such as checks, ACH transactions, or automatic bill payments; to provide a means for the consumer to exercise this choice; and to disclose the associated returned item fee and that additional merchant fees may apply. The institution may also disclose the consumer's right to revoke consent. For notices provided to consumers who have opened accounts prior to July 1, 2010, the financial institution may describe the institution's overdraft service with respect to ATM and one-time debit card transactions with a statement such as “After August 15, 2010, we will not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below).”

Also, the Federal Reserve in no way prevents you from sending a cover letter in addition to the opt-in form that is chock full of marketing material.  So while you are limited in what you can put on the opt-in form, the sky is the limit on any marketing materials that accompany it.  Well, not quite.  Remember that any marketing materials would be advertisements, subject to NCUA's Truth in Savings regulation.