We are looking into allowing our customers to request stop payments on checks through online banking. If our stop payment disclosure was provided within the deposit account agreement at account opening along with a fee schedule that included the stop payment fee, would we need to provide any other disclosures within online banking at the time that the customer requests the stop payment? I was thinking of adding something along the lines of:

You may stop payment on any item drawn on your account whether you sign the item or not. Your stop payment order is effective for six months if it is given to us in writing or by another type of record (Generally, a “record” is information that is stored in such a way that it can be retrieved and can be heard or read and understood – you can ask us what type of stop payment records you can give us). Your order will lapse after that time if you do not renew the order in writing before the end of the six-month period. If the original stop-payment order was oral your stop-payment order will lapse after 14 calendar days if it is not confirmed in writing or by another type of record within that time period. We are not obligated to notify you when a stop-payment order expires. A release of the stop-payment request may be made only by the person who initiated the stop-payment order. By submitting this electronic stop payment request, you are authorizing THSB to charge your account a stop payment fee of $25.00.

But I'm not sure that we can add additional text within the stop payment screen.

Thanks

You are going to require that they also submit it in writing? Otherwise, this is all a question for your legal counsel to review.

No - we consider the online request "in writing". The above is mainly what is in our deposit account agreement. I just didn't know if we needed to re-disclose it at the time that they submit a stop payment request online.

Since a lot of liability is associated with the proper execution or failure to execute a stop payment order, as I suggested, these are questions for your legal counsel. This is not a compliance issue.

Ok. Thanks.

I can't opine on the language, but I would absolutely want to remind the customer that there is a fee, and either refer to the current fee schedule, or state the fee and remember to adjust it when fees are updated.

Otherwise you're inviting complaints because the customer wasn't aware it would cost more for a stop than the checks value, or the fee table was updated and increased but the disclosure was not. Fees reduce balances and that can increase fees on that account. That's a foundation for a complaint.

Thanks for the feedback Andy. I fully agree with this!