Capital Briefs: Fed Adjusts Its Rule on POS Disputes

The Federal Reserve Board has amended Regulation E to reduce the period during which a bank may investigate disputed point of sale transactions without providing provisional credit to the consumer.

Under the rule, banks by April 1 must provide provisional credit within 10 days, half as long as the current requirement. The bank still has 90 days to complete its investigation of the disputed point of sale transaction. The Fed said it would apply the same timetable to automated teller machine transactions that are made outside the United States. The Fed said language and technological barriers make the current 45-day requirement for investigations insufficient. It also said the 20-day waiting period for provisional credit needlessly inconvenienced people.

For accounts that are less than 30 days old, the Fed will give banks 20 days to supply provisional credit and 90 days to investigate disputed charges.

Separately, the Fed amended its Truth-in-Savings Act rules to permit banks to display savings rates on signs inside a branch without making myriad disclosures.