WASHINGTON—The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has settled with Envios de Valores La Nacional (La Nacional) after saying it had found the company violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and the Remittance Transfer Rule, which implements EFTA.
La Nacional is a large remittance transfer provider incorporated in New York and licensed in 15 states and the District of Columbia. La Nacional sent $2.2 billion in remittance transfers between November 2016 and April 2018 from the United States to recipients in several countries in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Africa, the CFPB said.
The order requires La Nacional to pay a $750,000 civil money penalty and imposes requirements to prevent future violations. This is the fourth action stemming from a Bureau sweep to address violations of the Remittance Transfer Rule.
The Bureau said it found since the 2013 effective date of the Remittance Transfer Rule, La Nacional has engaged in thousands of violations of the Remittance Transfer Rule. Specifically, the Bureau’s investigation found that La Nacional violated EFTA and the Remittance Transfer Rule by failing to honor cancellation requests and failing to refund certain fees and taxes when funds were not available on time.
Additional Allegations
The Bureau said it further found La Nacional has failed to maintain appropriate error resolution policies and procedures, to adhere to error resolution requirements, and to provide consumers with reports of investigation findings.
In addition, the CFPB found La Nacional failed to treat international bill pay services as remittance transfers and to make proper disclosures in numerous instances.
Under the terms of the consent order, in addition to paying a penalty, La Nacional must adopt a compliance plan to ensure that its remittance transfer acts and practices comply with all applicable Federal consumer financial laws and the consent order, the agency said.
The consent order is available here.