Nearly a year ago, Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed a bill into law prohibiting banks from charging customers a fee for opting to receive paper statements. Now, lawmakers are considering a proposal to clarify what actually constitutes a “billing statement.”
Ahead of a work session scheduled for later this week, updated language has been brought forward by bill sponsor Sen. Donna Bailey (D-York).
Sen. Bailey, who was also responsible for the legislation approved last year, explained in testimony before the Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services (HCIFS) Committee that LD 2061 seeks to address concerns raised by credit unions in recent months.
Originally sponsored by a bipartisan group of legislators, last year’s legislation banning paper statement fees was ultimately approved by substantial majorities in both the House and the Senate.
Although Maine state law already prohibited businesses from penalizing customers who choose to receive paper statements, as opposed to electronic ones, depository institutions — including banks and credit unions — had previously been exempted.
Because this original law did not provide a specific definition for the term “billing statement,” the prohibition on fees has extended to all paper statement requests, including those that credit unions have indicated are labor intensive, such as when requests encompass years’ worth of records.
Under LD 2061, “billing statement” would be defined as a monthly account statement, allowing Mainers to receive their regular recurring statements at no charge while opening the door for banks and credit unions to impose fees for non-routine requests.
“To be clear, this bill would not create new fees, and it would not weaken consumer protections,” said Sen. Bailey. “It would simply clarify the law, restoring clarity to my original intent.”
Click Here to Read Sen. Bailey’s Full Testimony
Under the proposed sponsor’s amendment, the clarifying definition would also specify that the fee charged for non-routine statements must be “reasonable.”
The amendment would also require that any fees be “fully disclosed” and “authorized by the customer” prior to the requested statements being provided.
An emergency preamble was also added to the bill under this proposed amendment, meaning that if at least two-thirds of the lawmakers in both chambers vote in support of the legislation, these changes would take immediate effect.
Typically, bills are only enacted ninety days after the Legislature adjourns at the end of their current session.
After being tabled during a January 21 work session, LD 2061 is again on the docket for a work session set to be held on Wednesday, February 4.
