After the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed new regulations that require banks to disclose all fee requirements for customers, many small banks across the nation were worried that the regulations could run them into bankruptcy. Yet in mid-August, the agency “took a step toward giving smaller institutions relief in a key area: remittances,” according to American Banker.

The CFPB decided that institutions with fewer than 100 remittances “a year are freed from new fee-disclosure requirements.” The agency may have killed two birds with one stone with this ruling—a Texas banker launched a court challenge to the legitimacy of the agency after the new regulations were proposed, citing the remittance rule as a reason that the agency should be abolished.

In the original new regulations, the CFPB had excused banks with a 25-transfer limit, and raised this to 100 upon the controversy regarding remittances. CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a press release that the agency “recognizes that in regulations, one size does not necessarily fit all. The final remittance rule will protect the overwhelming majority of consumers while making the process easier for community banks, credit unions, and other small providers that do not send many remittance transfers.” Our skilled bankruptcy lawyers in Phoenix can help you understand these new regulations and how they can work for you.

The CFPB initially proposed the new regulations as a mandate issued by the Dodd-Frank Act, meant to improve the financial solvency of cash-strapped Americans in the slow economic recovery. The new allowance by the CFPB is good news for the many smaller, community banks in Arizona, many of whom were hit hard by the economic downturn, according to a 2010 article in the Arizona Star.

If you or someone you know is facing financial insolvency despite efforts to curb personal bankruptcies across the nation, don’t go through it alone. Contact a dedicated Arizona bankruptcy attorney today.

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