Fees To Cover Reg E Compliance

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Question:

<a href="http://www.bankersonline.com/regs/205/20511.html">205.11d(1)</a> of Regulation E provides that upon request, an institution must provide copies of the documents utilized in its investigation of an EFT error. Have there been any official rulings regarding whether or not an institution may impose a fee to recover its cost for such copies?

Answer:

You may not charge a fee if the claim is found to be valid. You may charge a fee if the claim is not, but the fee should not be one that dissuades a consumer from filing a claim.

Supplement I to Part 205Official Staff Interpretations 3. Charges for error resolution. If a billing error occurred, whether as alleged or in a different amount or manner, the financial institution may not impose a charge related to any aspect of the errorresolution process (including charges for documentation or investigation). Since the act grants the consumer errorresolution rights, the institution should avoid any chilling effect on the goodfaith assertion of errors that might result if charges are assessed when no billing error has occurred.

First published on BankersOnline.com 5/20/02