PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Limits how much you can owe if money is taken from your account without your OK. You are only responsible if the card or other way into your account was accepted and the bank had a way to identify the user (like a signature, photo, fingerprint, or electronic/mechanical check). Your loss is capped at the smaller of $50 or the amount taken before the bank is told or otherwise learns there may be a problem. The bank may not have to refund losses that would not have happened but for your waiting more than 60 days after a statement was sent to report an error (or a reasonable longer time for things like long travel or hospitalization). If you learn a card is lost or stolen and don’t report it within two business days (or a reasonable longer time for extenuating circumstances), the bank may avoid refunding losses that would not have happened but for that delay; in those cases your total loss can’t exceed $500 or the amount taken after the two business days until the bank was notified, whichever is less. The bank must prove a transfer was authorized or must prove the rules above apply. If a bad transfer also used agreed-upon overdraft credit, your limit is decided only by these rules. These rules don’t make you owe more than other laws or any contract you have with the bank. Otherwise, you are not liable for unauthorized electronic transfers.

Title 15, §1693g

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Unauthorized electronic fund transfers; limit

A consumer shall be liable for any unauthorized electronic fund transfer involving the account of such consumer only if the card or other means of access utilized for such transfer was an accepted card or other meanas of access and if the issuer of such card, code, or other means of access has provided a means whereby the user of such card, code, or other means of access can be identified as the person authorized to use it, such as by signature, photograph, or fingerprint or by electronic or mechanical confirmation. In no event, however, shall a consumer’s liability for an unauthorized transfer exceed the lesser of— (1)

(2)the amount of money or value of property or services obtained in such unauthorized electronic fund transfer prior to the time the financial institution is notified of, or otherwise becomes aware of, circumstances which lead to the reasonable belief that an unauthorized electronic fund transfer involving the consumer’s account has been or may be effected. Notice under this paragraph is sufficient when such steps have been taken as may be reasonably required in the ordinary course of business to provide the financial institution with the pertinent information, whether or not any particular officer, employee, or agent of the financial institution does in fact receive such information.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, reimbursement need not be made to the consumer for losses the financial institution establishes would not have occurred but for the failure of the consumer to report within sixty days of transmittal of the statement (or in extenuating circumstances such as extended travel or hospitalization, within a reasonable time under the circumstances) any unauthorized electronic fund transfer or account error which appears on the periodic statement provided to the consumer under section 1693d of this title. In addition, reimbursement need not be made to the consumer for losses which the financial institution establishes would not have occurred but for the failure of the consumer to report any loss or theft of a card or other means of access within two business days after the consumer learns of the loss or theft (or in extenuating circumstances such as extended travel or hospitalization, within a longer period which is reasonable under the circumstances), but the consumer’s liability under this subsection in any such case may not exceed a total of $500, or the amount of unauthorized electronic fund transfers which occur following the close of two business days (or such longer period) after the consumer learns of the loss or theft but prior to notice to the financial institution under this subsection, whichever is less.

(b)Burden of proof (c) Determination of limitation on liability

In any action which involves a consumer’s liability for an unauthorized electronic fund transfer, the burden of proof is upon the financial institution to show that the electronic fund transfer was authorized or, if the electronic fund transfer was unauthorized, then the burden of proof is upon the financial institution to establish that the conditions of liability set forth in subsection (a) have been met, and, if the transfer was initiated after the effective date of section 1693c of this title, that the disclosures required to be made to the consumer under section 1693c(a)(1) and (2) of this title were in fact made in accordance with such section.

(d)Restriction on liability

Nothing in this section imposes liability upon a consumer for an unauthorized electronic fund transfer in excess of his liability for such a transfer under other applicable law or under any agreement with the consumer’s financial institution.

(e)Scope of liability

Except as provided in this section, a consumer incurs no liability from an unauthorized electronic fund transfer.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 1602(e) of this title, referred to in subsec. (c), was redesignated section 1602(f) of this title by Pub. L. 111–203, title X, § 1100A(1)(A), July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 2107.

§1693g Consumer Liability

Summary

Title 15, §1693g

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Citations & Metadata