The new Regulation CC changes to the amounts that must be made available during holds will require notification to our customers within thirty days of the change. However, our initial disclosures do not reference the dollar amounts of available funds during various holds. Do we need to begin disclosing these hold amounts to our customers, or may we simply notify them that the hold amounts have changed and are available if they wish to view them? Currently, we use the basic funds availability policy (Model C-1) in Appendix C to Regulation CC.

We do not believe you need to include the dollar amounts of available funds during holds in your initial Regulation CC disclosures, provided that the model availability policy you are using (Model C-1) accurately reflects the specific availability policy followed by your bank in most cases.

Under Regulation CC, banks must provide potential customers (and any person who makes an oral or written request) with the bank’s applicable specific availability policy disclosure. According to the official commentary to Regulation CC, the disclosure “must reflect the availability policy followed by the bank in most cases, even though a bank may in some cases make funds available sooner or impose a longer delay.”

Whether a bank’s disclosure must reflect specific hold amounts depends on the availability policy followed by that bank. For example, “a bank that makes deposited funds available for withdrawal on the business day following the day of deposit need simply disclose that deposited funds will be available for withdrawal on the first business day after the day of deposit, the bank’s business days, and when deposits are considered received.” Banks with such an availability policy may use Regulation CC’s Model C-1 (next-day availability) policy disclosure, which does not reference specific hold amounts. However, banks that have a policy of routinely delaying the time when deposited funds are available for withdrawal on a blanket basis or have a combination of next-day availability and blanket delays would need more detailed disclosures that reference hold amounts (such as those reflected in Model C-2 and Model C-3).

Regarding the new Regulation CC dollar amounts that will take effect July 1, 2020, Regulation CC states that a “bank shall send a notice to holders of consumer accounts at least 30 days before implementing a change to the bank’s availability policy regarding such accounts, except that a change that expedites the availability of funds may be disclosed not later than 30 days after implementation.” Since the funds banks must make available to customers during holds is increasing, we agree that you may provide notice of the change within thirty days after the change is implemented. We also agree that you do not need to include the dollar amounts of the funds available during holds in your notice, since they are not referenced in your availability policy.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

Regulation CC, 12 CFR 229.17 (“Before opening a new account, a bank shall provide a potential customer with the applicable specific availability policy disclosure described in §229.16.”)

Regulation CC, 12 CFR 229.18(d) (“A bank shall provide to any person, upon oral or written request, a notice containing the applicable specific availability policy disclosure described in §229.16.”)

Regulation CC, 12 CFR 229.16(a) (“To meet the requirements of a specific availability policy disclosure under §§229.17 and 229.18(d), a bank shall provide a disclosure describing the bank's policy as to when funds deposited in an account are available for withdrawal. The disclosure must reflect the policy followed by the bank in most cases. A bank may impose longer delays on a case-by-case basis or by invoking one of the exceptions in §229.13, provided this is reflected in the disclosure.”)

Regulation CC, Official Interpretations, Paragraph 229.16(b), Comment 1 (“This section describes the information that must be disclosed by banks to comply with §§229.17 and 229.18(d), which require that banks furnish notices of their specific policy regarding availability of deposited funds. The disclosure provided by a bank must reflect the availability policy followed by the bank in most cases, even though a bank may in some cases make funds available sooner or impose a longer delay.”)

Regulation CC, 12 CFR 229.16(b) (“The specific availability policy disclosure shall contain the following, as applicable—

(1) A summary of the bank's availability policy;

(2) A description of any categories of deposits or checks used by the bank when it delays availability (such as local or nonlocal checks); how to determine the category to which a particular deposit or check belongs; and when each category will be available for withdrawal (including a description of the bank's business days and when a deposit is considered received);

(3) A description of any of the exceptions in §229.13 that may be invoked by the bank, including the time following a deposit that funds generally will be available for withdrawal and a statement that the bank will notify the customer if the bank invokes one of the exceptions;

(4) A description, as specified in paragraph (c)(1) of this section, of any case-by-case policy of delaying availability that may result in deposited funds being available for withdrawal later than the time periods stated in the bank's availability policy; and

(5) A description of how the customer can differentiate between a proprietary and a nonproprietary ATM, if the bank makes funds from deposits at nonproprietary ATMs available for withdrawal later than funds from deposits at proprietary ATMs.”)

Regulation CC, Official Interpretations, Paragraph 229.16(b), Comment 1 (“This paragraph sets forth the items that must be included, as applicable, in a bank's specific availability policy disclosure. The information that must be disclosed by a particular bank will vary considerably depending upon the bank's availability policy. For example, a bank that makes deposited funds available for withdrawal on the business day following the day of deposit need simply disclose that deposited funds will be available for withdrawal on the first business day after the day of deposit, the bank's business days, and when deposits are considered received.”)

Regulation CC, Official Interpretations, Paragraph 229.16(b), Comment 2 (“On the other hand, a bank that has a policy of routinely delaying on a blanket basis the time when deposited funds are available for withdrawal would have a more detailed disclosure. Such blanket hold policies might be for the maximum time allowed under the federal law or might be for shorter periods. These banks must disclose the types of deposits that will be subject to delays, how the customer can determine the type of deposit being made, and the day that funds from each type of deposit will be available for withdrawal.”)

Regulation CC, Official Commentary, Paragraph 229.16(b), Comment 3 (“Some banks may have a combination of next-day availability and blanket delays. For example, a bank may provide next-day availability for all deposits except for one or two categories, such as deposits at nonproprietary ATMs and nonlocal personal checks over a specified dollar amount. The bank would describe the categories that are subject to delays in availability and tell the customer when each category would be available for withdrawal, and state that other deposits will be available for withdrawal on the first business day after the day of deposit. Similarly, a bank that provides availability on the second business day for most of its deposits would need to identify the categories of deposits which, under the regulation, are subject to next-day availability and state that all other deposits will be available on the second business day.”)

Regulation CC, Appendix C, Model Availability Policy Disclosures, Clauses, and Notices, C-1 – Next-Day Availability (“Your Ability To Withdraw Funds. Our policy is to make funds from your cash and check deposits available to you on the first business day after the day we receive your deposit. Electronic direct deposits will be available on the day we receive the deposit. Once the funds are available, you can withdraw them in cash and we will use them to pay checks that you have written. For determining the availability of your deposits, every day is a business day, except Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays. If you make a deposit before (time of day) on a business day that we are open, we will consider that day to be the day of your deposit. However, if you make a deposit after (time of day) or on a day we are not open, we will consider that the deposit was made on the next business day we are open.”)

Regulation CC, Appendix C, Model Availability Policy Disclosures, Clauses, and Notices, C-2 Next-day availability and § 229.13 exceptions

Regulation CC, Appendix C, Model Availability Policy Disclosures, Clauses, and Notices, C-3 Next-day availability, case-by-case holds to statutory limits, and § 229.13 exceptions

Regulation CC, 12 CFR 229.18(e) (“A bank shall send a notice to holders of consumer accounts at least 30 days before implementing a change to the bank's availability policy regarding such accounts, except that a change that expedites the availability of funds may be disclosed not later than 30 days after implementation.”)

Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks (Regulation CC), 84 Fed. Reg. 31687, 31696 (July 3, 2019) (“Add § 229.11 to read as follows: 229.11 Adjustment of dollar amounts.

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(c) Amounts. (1) For purposes of § 229.10(c)(1)(vii), the dollar amount in effect during a particular period is the amount stated in this paragraph (c)(1) for that period.

(i) Prior to July 21, 2011, the amount is $100.

(ii) From July 21, 2011, through June 30, 2020, by operation of section 603(a)(2)(D) of the EFA Act (12 U.S.C. 4002(a)(2)(D)) the amount is $200.

(iii) Effective July 1, 2020, the amount is $225.

(2) For purposes of § 229.12(d), the dollar amount in effect during a particular period is the amount stated in this paragraph (c)(2) for that period.

(i) Prior to July 1, 2020, the amount is $400.

(ii) Effective July 1, 2020, the amount is $450.

(3) For purposes of § 229.13(a), (b), and (d), the dollar amount in effect during a particular period is the amount stated in this paragraph (c)(3) for that period.

(i) Prior to July 1, 2020, the amount is $5,000.

(ii) Effective July 1, 2020, the amount is $5,525. . . .”)