A large remittance provider was assessed a $750,000 civil money penalty over “thousands” of remittance rule violations and required to correct its practices under a consent order announced Monday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The consent order shows that the firm, Envios de Valores La Nacional (or La Nacional), is incorporated in New York, is licensed in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and conducts the majority of its business in the greater New York metropolitan area. The bureau said 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 bureau said that in its investigation, it found that La Nacional:
- violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) and the the bureau’s own remittance transfer rule by failing to honor cancellation requests and failing to refund certain fees and taxes when funds were not available on time;
- 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;
- has failed to treat international bill pay services as remittance transfers and to make proper disclosures “in numerous instances.”
The CFPB said this was the fourth action stemming from its sweep to address remittance rule violations.