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To amend the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978, to require the Council to establish a single telephone number that consumers with complaints or inquiries could call and be routed to the appropriate Federal banking agency or State bank supervisor, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

June 18, 2008CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. CORKER, Mr. ALEXANDER, and Mrs. DOLE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To amend the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978, to require the Council to establish a single telephone number that consumers with complaints or inquiries could call and be routed to the appropriate Federal banking agency or State bank supervisor, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Financial Consumer Hotline Act of 2008’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED INTAKE OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES MADE TO FEDERAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION REGULATORY AGENCIES.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1009A the following new section:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘SEC. 1009B. CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES.

‘(a) Single Toll-Free Telephone Number for Consumer Complaints and Inquiries-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(1) CALL INTAKE SYSTEM- The Federal financial institution regulatory agencies, coordinating through the Council, shall establish a single, toll-free telephone number for consumer complaints and inquiries concerning institutions regulated by such agencies and a system for routing such calls to the Federal financial institution regulatory agency that primarily supervises the financial institution, or that is otherwise the appropriate agency to address the subject of the complaint or inquiry.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(2) ROUTING CALLS TO STATES- To the extent practicable, State agencies may receive appropriate call transfers from the system established under paragraph (1), if--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(A) the State agency’s system has the functional capacity to receive calls routed by the system; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(B) the State agency has satisfied any conditions of participation in the system that the Council, coordinating with State agencies through the chairperson of the State Liaison Committee, may establish.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(b) Report to the Congress- Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the Financial Consumer Hotline Act of 2008, the Federal financial institution regulatory agencies shall submit a report to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate describing the agencies’ efforts to establish--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(1) a public interagency Web site for directing and referring Internet consumer complaints and inquiries concerning any financial institution to the Federal financial institution regulatory agency that primarily supervises the financial institution, or to the Federal financial institution regulatory agency or State agency that is otherwise the appropriate agency to address the subject of the complaint or inquiry; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(2) a system to expedite the prompt and effective rerouting of any misdirected consumer complaint or inquiry documents between or among the agencies, with prompt referral of any complaint or inquiry to the appropriate Federal financial institution regulatory agency, and to participating State agencies.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink