The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued an enforcement action — it’s third in a week — this time against a remittance company that was accused of failing to comply with disclosure requirements of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and the Remittance Transfer Rule.
Under the terms of the order, the company — Choice Money Transfer, which does business as Small World Money Transfer — will pay a penalty of $950,000, which will be put into the Bureau’s victim’s relief fund.
Among the allegations made against the company were:
- Providing inaccurate information to consumers about key transfer information
- Failing to provide refunds required by law
- Using inadequate disclosures
- Ignoring consumer consent
Along with the financial penalty, the company must also take “broad corrective action” to bring itself into compliance with the EFTA and the Remittance Transfer Rule.
The company was accused of not including required information, such as the current exchange rate and transfer costs, as well as failing to accurately disclose the date when funds would be available, on remittance transfers. As well, the company did not refund consumers — as it was required to do by law — when transfers were not completed by the “received by” date. The company also failed to include disclosures in both English and Spanish and used an “improper” font size in the disclosures it did make.
The Last Word:
