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Cmte Financial Services (R)
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House Passes Legislation to End Confusing, Unnecessary Notices

Washington, Dec 12 -

The House on Wednesday passed bipartisan legislation that eliminates confusion for consumers and ends duplicative and bureaucratic paperwork requirements for financial institutions.

The bill, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act, ends the annual privacy notice requirement for financial institutions if the institutions have not made any changes to their privacy practices over the past year.  Currently, privacy notices are required to be sent to customers every year, even if a bank’s privacy policies have not changed and it has not shared a customer’s financial information.

“This bipartisan bill maintains current privacy protections and cuts down on useless paperwork that piles up on customers’ kitchen tables every year,” said Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus.  “The federal government requires these notices to be sent even if the bank does not share information and has not changed its privacy practices.  Not only is this costly to the bank, it can be irritating and confusing to customers.”

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a member of the Financial Services Committee, sponsored the bill.

“This legislation would eliminate unnecessary, costly, confusing and often ignored mailings that clog up people’s mailboxes that end up costing millions of dollars to produce and mail. Additionally, many of these costs are ultimately being passed onto customers of banks and credit unions,” Rep. Luetkemeyer said. “Not only will this legislation end the redundant mailings, but it also will make it more likely that people will pay closer attention to important mailings they receive from their financial institutions because they are receiving fewer.”