Remittance Transfer Rule

For those of us in the USA and this hobby, we often make international transfers through Paypal. With this new regulation that's been implemented, I've experienced issues with sending payment to Natalie (Hong Kong).

 

Details: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201305_cfpb_remittance-transfer-rule_summary.pdf

 

COVERAGE

The rules apply to most remittance transfers if they are:

- More than $15

- Made by a consumer in the United States

- Sent to a person or company in a foreign country

This includes many types of transfers, including wire transfers.

 

Since this regulation is for our protection, the rule states the company has to give disclosures to consumers before they pay for the remittance transfers. However, Paypal does not have this "disclosure" input on their platform when sending invoices. Therefore, this is why some of my international transfers are not going through.

 

When I called Paypal about this issue, they said there is no way to transfer the money at the moment via Paypal. I would have to look for other options. I called my bank and they told me the only way to transfer money to a foreign bank is through a wire transfer that will cost $30 per transfer or $25 per transfer if the money is already in the foreign currency.

 

Has this new regulation affected anyone else and/or what are your thoughts on it?

Edited November 19, 2013 by Guest

Thanks for the heads up! I wonder when it went into effect? Got some stuff from Pupa Paradise (HK based) in October via PayPal with no issues, so either that one slipped by or the rule is only recently getting implemented.

 

Reading the rules, I can see how in the long run it'll be a good thing in preventing/dealing with scams. But in the short term it sounds like a lot of places are going to be having issues while they learn how to satisfy the requirements.

 

Hopefully PayPal adds something to accommodate the disclosure soon. Otherwise with that $25-$30 fee, I forsee a lot of US based group orders in the coming months.

I haven't run into this issue yet because I haven't completed an international transfer in a while. I'll see if I can look into ways around it, though. I haven't thought very deeply about this yet, but I wonder how this would affect international credit card transactions, for instance.

Thanks for the heads up! I wonder when it went into effect? Got some stuff from Pupa Paradise (HK based) in October via PayPal with no issues, so either that one slipped by or the rule is only recently getting implemented.

 

Reading the rules, I can see how in the long run it'll be a good thing in preventing/dealing with scams. But in the short term it sounds like a lot of places are going to be having issues while they learn how to satisfy the requirements.

 

Hopefully PayPal adds something to accommodate the disclosure soon. Otherwise with that $25-$30 fee, I forsee a lot of US based group orders in the coming months.

 

It went into effect on October 28th but my boyfriend (my banker) said it didn't really affect the bank till last Monday. Think it's still rolling out to some institutes, etc. I know some people that were still able to make payments to international companies as normal when the Paypal is accepted through their website where disclosures are clearly displayed. I believe it's only direct transfers or unclear/non-existant disclosures that are affected.

 

I haven't run into this issue yet because I haven't completed an international transfer in a while. I'll see if I can look into ways around it, though. I haven't thought very deeply about this yet, but I wonder how this would affect international credit card transactions, for instance.

 

Paypal has known about this for months. I'm not sure why their legal department didn't decide to take action in remedying this situation. Although they did mention that it would cost them a lot more money to operate international transfers if they allowed such a process on their platform.