Our bank is in the process of changing fees. There has been some discussion on the requirement of customer notice. We are changing the following types of fees:
-Deposited checks returned unpaid
-Wire Transfers
- Overdraft/NSF Fees
- Stop Payments
ETC.
- ATM Fees

I feel that we should at the very minimum be giving our customer a 30 days advanced notice as it states in Reg DD for Change in Terms and Reg E (21 days). I am looking for some support. Thanks.

The 30 day minimum requirement is a definite must per Regulation DD. We are also looking at increasing some fees and I told senior management that we are required to do that. If you use a statement message or statement stuffer, remember that all customers receive the 30 days advance notice. Depending on your statement cycles you may have to begin 60 days prior to changing your fees.

Betsy:

Yes, 30 days advance notice is the requirement.

Lisa

State law might apply, too.

And if you opt to disclose the entire fee schedule, you must in some way hi-lite those items that changed.

Andy:

How would you highlight those items that changed?

Bold them? I just want to get an idea of what that would look like.

Thanks,
Lisa

I am not answering for AndyZ, but here is what we have done in the past. (It depends on the volume of changes.) Send the newly redesigned fee schedule with a slip-sheet re-listing the changed fees. (That way the fee schedule does not have some fees in bold and others fees not bolded.)

The key is doing something that would reasonably bring the change to a person’s attention – nothing elaborate is needed.

You can print the changes in bold or a contrasting color or highlight them (making it look as if you used a highlighting marker), or underscore, or print arrows in the margin. Anything that draws the customer's eye to the new information.

Or you can send an unhighlighted disclosure of all terms with a letter describing the changes.

You have some pretty good replies already. You can asterisk everything that changed, bold them as John mentioned, etc. The point is to make them stand out.

FYI, here is the OSC cite: §230.5 Subsequent disclosures.
1. Form of notice. Institutions may provide a change-in-term notice on or with a periodic statement or in another mailing. If an institution provides notice through revised account disclosures, the changed term must be highlighted in some manner. For example, institutions may note that a particular fee has been changed (also specifying the new amount) or use an accompanying letter that refers to the changed term.

Betsy: I would imagine (although you don't specifically say so) that you are asking about increased fees. You wouldn't need prior notice under DD or E if your "changing" of the fees was all in the direction of benefitting the customer, but you would still need to be aware of state law requirements or provisions in your account agreement.