§ 5601 — Remittance Transfers

(a) (1) The Board of Governors shall work with the Federal reserve banks and the Department of the Treasury to expand the use of the automated clearinghouse system and other payment mechanisms for remittance transfers to foreign countries, with a focus on countries that receive significant remittance transfers from the United States, based on— (A) the number, volume, and size of such transfers; (B) the significance of the volume of such transfers relative to the external financial flows of the receiving country, including— (i) the total amount transferred; and (ii) the total volume of payments made by United States Government agencies to beneficiaries and retirees living abroad; (C) the feasibility of such an expansion; and (D) the ability of the Federal Reserve System to establish payment gateways in different geographic regions and currency zones to receive remittance transfers and route them through the payments systems in the destination countries. (2) Not later than one calendar year after July 21, 2010, and on April 30 biennially thereafter during the 10-year period beginning on July 21, 2010, the Board of Governors shall submit a report to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on the status of the automated clearinghouse system and its progress in complying with the requirements of this subsection. The report shall include an analysis of adoption rates of International ACH Transactions rules and formats, the efficacy of increasing adoption rates, and potential recommendations to increase adoption. (1) Each of the Federal banking agencies and the National Credit Union Administration shall provide guidelines to financial institutions under the jurisdiction of the agency regarding the offering of low-cost remittance transfers and no-cost or low-cost basic consumer accounts, as well as agency services to remittance transfer providers. (2) duties as members of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, the Bureau, the Federal banking agencies, and the National Credit Union Administration shall assist the Financial Literacy and Education Commission in executing the Strategy for Assuring Financial Empowerment (or the “SAFE Strategy”), as it relates to remittances. (d) (e) Before the end of the 365-day period beginning on July 21, 2010, the Director shall submit a report to the President, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives regarding— (1) the manner in which the remittance history of a consumer could be used to enhance the credit score of the consumer; (2) the current legal and business model barriers and impediments that impede the use of the remittance history of the consumer to enhance the credit score of the consumer; and (3) and the amendments made by this title 3 may be accomplished, whether or not such exchange rates are known at the time of origination or payment by the consumer for the remittance transfer, including disclosure to the sender of the actual exchange rate used and the amount of currency that the recipient of the remittance transfer received, using the values of the currency into which the funds were exchanged, as contained in sections 1693o–1(a)(2)(D) 3 and 1693o–1(a)(3) of title 15 (as amended by this section).