SDBA eNews

August 18, 2022

Avoiding Multiple NSF Fee Pitfalls

The March 2022 FDIC publication Supervisory Highlights included a warning to banks regarding recent lawsuits and examination findings wherein banks have charged more than one NSF fee for the same transaction. This was particularly happening on returned checks re-presented for payment.

Banks should not be charging NSF fees when an item is presented more than once, unless your overdraft/NSF fee disclosures are extremely clear on that point. If your disclosures are not extremely clear, it is considered a violation of Section 5 of the Fair Trade Commission Act, otherwise known as UDAP. It is considered both unfair and deceptive when you charge an NSF fee more than one time on the same item, without giving the customer the appropriate disclosures and/or time to correct the problem. Banks found to be in violation have been asked to go back 1-5 years to make restitution to their customers.

Depending on which systems your bank is using, re-presented items may require human intervention to be detected at all. And depending on the speed of the re-presentment, your customer communications to inform them of the negative account balance may not get to them quickly enough for the customer to bring the balance positive.

So what can you do about it?

Unless your system is sophisticated enough to detect multiple presentments, your only recourse is to make your overdraft and NSF fee disclosure very specific, letting customers know how an NSF fee will be applied to each presentment. If your settlements clear through the Fed, there should only be one re-presentment. However if you clear through ECCHO, an item could be re-presented up to two times, doubling your exposure, if your disclosures are found to be lacking.

(Shared from UBB Compliance Services


Farmer Mac Roadshow 2022

Farmer Mac’s popular Road Shows are coming to a town near you. Come meet the Farmer Mac underwriting and business development teams, have lunch, network with other local lenders, and join the conversation as we discuss the following topics:

  • Capital, liquidity, and credit risk management options for ag lenders,
  • U.S. agricultural outlook – 2022 and beyond,
  • New Farm & Ranch loan products and pricing options,
  • Meet your underwriter – tips for successful loan originations,
  • Utilizing AgXpress – our scorecard underwriting option,
  • Appraisal, Closing and Servicing updates, and
  • Working with USDA Rural Development, Farm Service Agency, and the secondary market.

All sessions are from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM local time.* We hope you can join us! Sign up today! 
*Mankato, MN: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Event Dates and Locations: 

Tues., Sept. 13: Ames, IA
Wed., Sept. 14: Mankato, MN
Thurs., Sept. 15: Columbia, MO
Tues., Sept. 20: Bloomington, IL
Wed., Sept. 21: Indianapolis, IN
Thurs., Sept. 22: Columbus, OH
Tues., Sept. 27: Sacramento, CA
Wed., Sept. 28: Fresno, CA
Thurs., Sept. 29: Pismo Beach, CA
Tues., Oct. 4: Sioux Falls, SD
Wed., Oct. 5: York, NE
Thurs., Oct. 6: Wichita, KS


USD's Beacom School of Business: Meet the Firms!

The Beacom School of Business - Career Success Center is planning a Meet the Firms event for Tuesday, September 8 from 3:00pm-5:00pm for employers to come on campus and network with our students.

We will use a speed networking format so employers will have a table set up and small groups of students will rotate around and visit with each table in 10 minute intervals for approximately one hour. The last 30-45 minutes of the event will be an open time for students to visit more in depth with you or to make connections with your company. During your 10 minutes you are welcome share information about your company and any full-time, part-time, or internship opportunities that you may have available immediately or in the near future (e.g. spring 2023 or summer 2023). At the event you may collect student contact information when you visit with students to keep in touch with them. And of course, you are welcome to have recruitment materials and any promotional items for your company as well!

Would you be interested in participating in this event? If so, please register today as there are a limited number of tables available!

Thank you for your support and for including our students in your recruitment plans.

Meet the Industry Registration Link 


Order your 2023 Scenes of South Dakota Calendars!

The SDBA is now taking orders for the 2023 Scenes of South Dakota Calendars! 

Orders placed by September 1 will receive the low price of $1.55 per calendar. After September 1 price will be $1.75 per calendar. Each order will have an additional $25.00 production charge (layout for press run, in-house press proof, boxing, labeling), plus shipping. Orders cannot be accepted after September 15. 


CISA News: South Dakota Phishing Attacks & Social Media

An interesting twist on social engineering and phishing attacks. Here’s the attack summary from a South Dakota company:

  1. Employee has a social media account (LinkedIn for example). Not uncommon for many of us.
  2. Hacker sends “friend request” to Employee impersonating a professional colleague.
  3. Employee accepts the request unbeknownst that the ‘friend’ is really a Hacker
  4. Time goes on…
  5. Employee then posts a message on social media announcing a new job.
  6. Employee leaves old job and starts new one.
  7. Hacker sees the posting regarding a new job and exiting the old one via social media.
  8. Hacker researches previous employer for key contacts.
  9. Within a week of the Employee starting the job at his new employer, Hacker sends an email to a key contact of the previous employer. In the message he/she impersonates the Employee requesting a change in final payroll deposit bank account and routing number.  

Here are the lessons to be learned:
1. Phishing training continues to be important. The above email messages were easily identified as phishing messages with a little analysis. Compare the alias/name with the actual email address. That step alone can go a long ways towards determining the legitimacy of a message.  
2. Be careful whom you “friend” on social media.  Do you know them personally? Don’t be susceptible to a set of ‘credentials’ and a pretty or handsome face.
3. Watch what you are posting;  ‘new job’, ‘on vacation’, ‘spouse news’, ‘out of state/country’, ‘ill’, etc.  
4. What type of executive and employee information do you post on websites?  Email addresses?  Personal information?  What do you include on social media accounts?
5. What procedures do you have in place to confirm the legitimacy of certain types of financial transactions?
6. Never underestimate the creativity of hackers to tie pieces of open source information together from multiple sources. The good ones use multiple resources to put the pieces of an individual together. 


Consumers Cite Security as Top Reason for Choosing Bank in Poll

Security and fraud protection are replacing “low or no fees” as the top reasons why consumers choose a new bank, according to a new survey of bank customers by the analytics firm Verint. The company polled more than 5,000 customers of the 20 largest U.S. banks earlier this year and found overall satisfaction with their banks had dropped since a similar survey in 2021, although a majority of banks still received high marks from respondents.

Asked what factors matter most when choosing a financial institution, respondents said security of personal information was most important. Next was low or no fees, followed by fraud protection, fraud alerts and convenient locations in their area. “With the rise of digital-first engagement, customers are more aware of the vulnerability of their personal information, so having confidence in their financial institutions’ security measures is growing in importance,” the report’s authors said.

Verint also looked at how different generations interact with their banks. Nearly half of baby boomer and Generation X respondents said they didn’t know fraud alerts were available from their banks, compared to 36% of millennials. Researchers also found that Gen Z and millennials were more likely to need help with various aspects of financial management, like cutting costs and setting a budget.

“As global inflation rises, a lack of assistance with financial management is likely to have a bigger impact on younger generations than it might have 6-12 months ago. With many willing to switch accounts, offering products or services that help address the gap in Gen Z’s and millennials’ financial knowledge requires serious consideration if banks want to retain a loyal customer base in the long term,” the authors wrote.


Fed Minutes: Higher Rates Likely to Remain ‘For Some Time’

A tight labor market and high inflation convinced the Federal Open Market Committee to unanimously approve a 75 basis point rate-hike in July, according to minutes released today. Moreover, some participants said that once the policy rate had reached “a sufficiently restrictive level,” it likely would need to remain there “for some time” to ensure inflation was firmly on a path back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

The minutes show FOMC participants anticipated that ongoing rate increases would be necessary but didn’t hint at what shape those would take. However, “as the stance of monetary policy tightened further, it likely would become appropriate at some point to slow the pace of policy rate increases while assessing the effects of cumulative policy adjustments on economic activity and inflation.”

Participants saw little evidence to date that inflation pressures were easing. They did judge inflation would respond to monetary policy tightening but given the delay in associated moderation of economic activity, inflation pressures “would likely stay uncomfortably high for some time.”


How to Combat the Challenges of Working and Managing Remotely

While 40% of people feel the greatest benefit of working remotely is the flexible schedule, almost every aspect of being a leader and everything about your team’s working world has changed over the last few years. The significant shift in how teams interact has created a strain on institutions across the nation.

Remote and hybrid teams are challenged with learning new best practices while working from home, such as proper time management and productivity.  Other challenges managers and their teams need to overcome include engaging remote teams and setting expectations.

What are some of the top challenges when managing a remote team? And how do you combat these challenges?

While each institution and each team member have different challenges and work habits that have needed to change since the stay-at-home order, we hear from our customers some common themes.

Lack of face-to-face

As a leader, it can be hard to effectively interact with your team without face-to-face interactions. You need to learn a new balance of trusting your employees to work as hard or as efficiently and providing direction and check-ins. Some employees may thrive in the new flexible environment, while others feel that their supervisors are out of touch with their needs when working remotely. The key is to learn what your team needs and adjust your management style to match what they need.

Distractions at home & time management

Bringing your office into your home challenges work vs life balance. The lines of personal responsibilities and work expectations get blurred. A new best practice when working remotely is to ensure you have a dedicated workspace. This should be a space with minimal distractions and ample room to work efficiently.

As a manager, you must understand the family and home demands of their employees while they are working from home. Members of your team who are parents with children are learning virtually. Others have childcare centers shut down because of recent exposures. Establish “rules of engagement” to help set expectations in communication, workload, and deadlines.

Virtual engagement during physical isolation

Let’s be real, working from home can get lonely. Having team bonding time is much harder when meeting on a computer screen rather than in the lunchroom. While you may not be able to physically together, it’s critical to team morale to still find ways to connect personally. This could be as simple as having time for a non-work chat at the start of a meeting, or a virtual pizza party where each team member has a pizza delivered at the time of the videoconference.

Remote and hybrid work isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, Upwork reports that by 2028, 73% of all departments will have remote workers. It’s mission-critical that leaders learn how to effectively manage their employees remotely. Check out the new “Remote Management” webinar series for more how-to’s.

OnCourse Learning provides the Remote Management OnDemand Webinar Series, designed to help promote best practices for working from home, such as proper time management and productivity. These webinars also cover ways to overcome challenges that can come from working from home, including engaging remote teams, managing stress, and setting expectations.


  Compliance Alliance logo

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Q. When an institution changes their privacy notice to cease sharing nonpublic personal information with nonaffiliates, does this trigger a mailing to all customers?

A.  No, this will not trigger a revised privacy notice. A revised notice is required when you want to disclose any nonpublic personal information about a consumer to a nonaffiliated third party in a way that was not described in the initial privacy notice. If you make a decision to change your sharing in a way that limits what you share then a revised notice is not necessary. There is a belief in the industry that every change to your privacy policies will trigger a revised notice but a notice is only prompted by a sharing of nonpublic personal information that is outside the boundaries of what was previously disclosed.  

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1016/8/#a 

Compliance Alliance offers a comprehensive suite of compliance management solutions. To learn how to put them to work for your bank, call (888) 353-3933 or email [email protected] and ask for our Membership Team.

For timely compliance updates, subscribe to Bankers Alliance’s email newsletters.


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Questions/Comments
Contact Haley Juhnke, SDBA, at 605.224.1653 or via email.