SENATE STATE MANAGEMENT, INVESTMENT AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 1078

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: NOVEMBER 7, 1996

 

      The Senate State Management, Investment and Financial Institutions Committee reports favorably, and with committee amendments, Senate Bill No. 1078.

      As amended, this bill requires notice to the consumer about any fees being charged by a third party with respect to a completed electronic fund transfer, however made. The bill includes inquiries in the definition of an electronic fund transfer. The notice is required to be provided prior to an action by the consumer which irrevocably commits the consumer to completion of the transaction and which provides the consumer with the option of canceling the transaction at that point without having any fee imposed. In addition, if a consumer completes an electronic fund transfer, the transaction record must include the transaction fee or fees imposed by the third party. The periodic statement that a consumer receives from the financial institution issuing the access device used by the consumer also must contain information on all third party charges for electronic fund transfers as items separate from the amount of each transaction.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

 

      The committee amended the bill to include a section of definitions for terms used in the bill. The definition for "electronic fund transfer" includes a consumer inquiry concerning account balances as an electronic fund transfer, thus requiring similar notification when a consumer uses an electronic terminal to make an inquiry. Other amendments to the bill limit the requirements for notice of charges with respect to electronic fund transfers to those charges imposed by a third party, i.e., any person owning or operating a electronic terminal other than the financial institution that holds the account of the customer and which has issued the access device for using electronic terminals.