While overdrafts programs continue to be a source of regulatory scrutiny, by studying the regulations and regulatory guidance
institutions can design and manage successful overdraft programs
that provide a benefit to customers while managing regulator
expectations. ■
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LEAH M. HAMILTON, J.D., is a Vice President and Senior
Consultant with ProBank Austin’s Education Division. In addi-
tion to her speaking role, Leah is one of the driving forces behind
her firm’s ProBank Advisor. With nearly 25 years of experience in
the financial services industry, her compliance knowledge spans
Lending, Deposits, BSA/AML and Compliance Management. As a
compliance expert, Leah has served as a lead advisor on consent
order remediation engagements and management responses to
examiner concerns. She is often called upon to assist in potential
RESPA Section 8, UDAAP and Overdraft matters. Leah has trained
more than 1,000 lenders on TRID and served as a TRID and 2018
HMDA expert for the American Bankers Association.
Prior to joining the firm, Leah has served as the Chief
Compliance Officer for a $4 billion community bank, a start-up
mortgage company and, most notably, for TriComply, Temenos’
compliance division. Additionally, she has served as in-house
counsel and worked for several leading banking software
firms. Leah received her Juris Doctorate from Northern Illinois
University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in General
Studies degree from the University of Texas at Dallas where she
majored in law and minored in business management. Leah also
serves as a faculty member of Southern Methodist University’s
SW Graduate School of Banking in Dallas where she teaches
Compliance 101, Fair Lending and the Mortgage Loan Process.
Reach her at lhamilton@probank.com.
Endnotes
1 UDAP – Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act applies
to both consumer and commercial customers; UDAAP – Section 1036(a)
of Dodd-Frank statute applies only to consumers and only to a consumer
financial product or service (which includes overdraft services).
2 For example, FDIC’s 2010 FDIC Overdraft Payment Program Supervisory
Guidance Frequently Asked Questions and FDIC’s regional offices 2014
Fees Associated with Extended Overdrafts; OCC’s 2015 Deposit Related
Credit handbook for examiners, section Overdraft Protection Services;
CFPB’s Understanding the “Opt-in” Choice for consumers.
3 The prudential agencies (OCC, FDIC, FRB and NCUA) and the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), jointly issued the Interagency
Statement Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance on 9/11/2018.
4 Under 12 CFR 215.4, this prohibition does not apply to the payment by
a member bank of an overdraft of a principal shareholder of the member
bank, unless the principal shareholder is also an executive officer or
director. This prohibition also does not apply to the payment by a member
bank of an overdraft of a related interest of an executive officer, director, or
principal shareholder of the member bank or executive officer, director, or
principal shareholder of its affiliates.
