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Course description

Fees for products and services have been a long-established practice in the financial services industry.   Fee revenue is an important part of a financial institution’s income stream, especially as rate margins have shrunk and technology, labor, and inflationary costs have increased.  However, the philosophy behind fee impositions require a re-think.  Does the fee you charge either:

  1. Provide countervailing benefits to consumers or competition; or
  2. Actually compensate your institution for any costs incurred in providing a financial product or service?  

If not, the fee is likely going to be deemed to be exploitive.

The weight of this realization is heavy.  Fees may no longer be deterring or punitive (largely what overdraft fees were for decades) or unsupported.  Consider this list of fees already deemed to be unfair or deceptive, or under the microscope right now:

  • Non-Sufficient Funds fees in general
  • Multiple NSF fees for the same transaction (representment NSF fees)
  • Overdraft Fees
    • Authorize Positive, Settle Negative Overdraft Fees
    • Unfair Unanticipated Overdraft Fees
  • Unfair Statement Fees
  • “Surprise” Depositor Fees: Returned Deposit Item Fees
  • Credit Report Fees
  • Loan Discount Points
  • Lender’s Title Insurance
  • Credit Card Late Fees


Do you see some fees your institution is charging on this list?  Of course – if you are in the business of banking, you have some such fees – but are they exploitive?  You need to know how regulatory opinions are shifting, to ensure your fees are reasonable and fair for the protection of your bank and your customers.

Also, it is important you know that the FTC has interpreted UDAP to apply to business accounts too.   Moreover, the FDIC has taken note of this legal interpretation, and clearly noted in their UDAP Exam manual that UDAP is not just a consumer protection matter, but extends to business accounts too.

If you find a fee issue, what should you do?  Should you provide restitution?  To whom, and for how long?  

Join Rebekah as she goes paints the big picture, offers risk-management and compliance-management considerations, and dives into the some particulars of recent agency perspectives on junk fees.  The more you know!

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Compliance staff, HR officers, lending managers, risk managers and auditors.

Instructor(s)

Rebekah Leonard, CRCM

Rebekah F Leonard, CRCM Rebekah is the owner of Elucidate LLC, a compliance training and consulting company. Elucidate means to “make clear, explain, throw light upon”, and describes Rebekah’s desire to illuminate the complexities of compliance with passion and fun. She’s created and produced a TRID music video parody and several Compliance Breakout escape rooms, which she frequently provides at state banking compliance conferences. She is an accomplished speaker and regularly provides webinars through BOL and Compliance Resource. Rebekah is currently serving as the VP Director of Compliance for a $6 Billion community bank in Montana. She began her career in 1995 at a private lending company, but soon settled into banking, where she’s covered nearly all of it – customer service and teller work, loan processing and review, BSA, and security and business continuity. She now oversees CRA and all aspects of compliance as a senior leader. She has successfully navigated numerous FDIC Compliance, CRA, and BSA Exams. Rebekah has a bachelors’ degree in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University (Magna cum Laude), attended the American Bankers Association National Compliance School in 2003, and has held her Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager designation since 2006. She is a BOL Compliance Guru.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Webinar

    • Access Webinar
  • 2

    Materials

    • Slides

    • Questions and Answers

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