CFPB Reduces by Almost $2 Million Civil Penalty Against Remittance Transfer Company Related to Advertising and Disclosure Practices

In a recently amended consent order with an international remittance transfer company, the CFPB reduced the civil money penalty from $2.025 million to $44,955 — but did not alter $450,000 in redress — stemming from allegations that the company had violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act (the CFPA) and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA).

The Bureau previously found that the company had engaged in deceptive acts or practices in violation of the CFPA by advertising inaccurate ATM fees and other charges.  The Bureau also found that the company had violated EFTA by, for example, not properly disclosing exchange rates and not refunding fees when it failed to make funds timely available.  WBK covered the original consent order here.  The reduced civil money penalty is the only substantive change to the original order.

The CFPB supplemented the amended order with a press release, which explained that the amendment “aligns the civil penalty with”: relevant provisions of the CFPA; relevant precedent arising under similar circumstances; Executive Order 14219, which, among other directives, instructed agencies to ensure that limited enforcement resources are focused on pursuing violations of “regulations squarely authorized by constitutional Federal statutes, and to commence the deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state”; and the rescission of Circular 2024-02, in which the Bureau had clarified its views on when a money transmitter’s marketing related to fees constitutes a deceptive act or practice under the CFPA.