IBA Compliance Connection

Your go to source for compliance!

We would like to combine the paper statements for our customers’ deposit accounts. We currently charge paper statement fees. If a customer currently pays multiple paper statement fees, can we continue charging multiple fees when we issue a single combined statement for the accounts? Also, if we have multiple joint accounts with a single common member, do we need to obtain all of the parties’ consents to a combined statement? For example, say John owns a joint account with his wife and another joint account with his daughter. Does John have the authority to request a combined statement, or would we need his wife and daughter’s written consents?

—

by

admin

We do not recommend charging multiple paper statement fees when providing a single combined paper statement covering multiple accounts. Even if this practice appears to be permitted by the language in your account agreements, we believe it could raise UDAAP issues as to the fairness and business justification for charging multiple paper statement fees for one paper statement.

In the hypothetical situation that you have provided, we do not believe written consent is necessary to provide a combined account statement to John. While you would be providing his wife’s and daughter’s personal financial information to John without their express consent, they are joint owners of these accounts with John, and since he also is a joint owner of these accounts, he is entitled to receive information on the accounts without their consent. In other words, every joint owner of an account is entitled to receive the account’s information.

On the other hand, if John requested a combined account statement to be sent to his wife, we believe his daughter’s written consent would be necessary for the account in which the wife is not a joint owner. In the absence of a common legal interest between the wife and daughter, such as joint ownership of the account, John cannot consent to the disclosure of his daughter’s personal financial information to his wife.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Regulation P, 12 CFR 1016.15(a) (“Exceptions to opt out requirements. . . . (1) With the consent or at the direction of the consumer, provided that the consumer has not revoked the consent or direction.”)
  • Regulation P, 12 CFR 1016.15(a)(2)(iv) (“Exceptions to opt out requirements. . . . (iv) To persons holding a legal or beneficial interest related to the consumer; . . .”)