OCC 98-47
Subject: Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996
Description:   Message to Bankers/Examiners
Date: October 15, 1998

TO:  Chief Executive Officers and Compliance Officers of all
     National Banks, Department and Division Heads, and all
     Examining Personnel


The Financial Management Service of the Department of the
Treasury published the attached final rule in the Federal
Register on September 25, 1998.  The final rule implements
provisions of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, known
as Electronic Funds Transfer  99 (EFT  99).  The Act requires
that all federal payments (other than those under the Internal
Revenue Code) be made by EFT beginning January 2, 1999, unless
waived by the Secretary of the Treasury.   

The final rule establishes the circumstances under which waivers
are available; sets forth requirements for accounts to which
federal payments may be sent by EFT; provides that any individual
who receives a federal benefit, wage, salary or retirement
payment shall be eligible to open a low-cost Treasury-designated
account, called an Electronic Transfer Account or ETA , at a
financial institution that offers such accounts; and sets forth
the responsibilities of federal agencies and recipients under the
regulation. 

The final rule expands the hardship waiver provisions of the
proposed rule by allowing individuals to make self-determinations
that a hardship exists and to choose to receive payments by
check.  In the future, individuals who receive federal benefit,
wage, salary or retirement payments will be eligible to open a
low-cost account, called an ETA .  The Treasury will determine
the attributes of this account and federally-insured financial
institutions will have the option to enter into an ETA 
Financial Agency Agreement with the Department of the Treasury.  

In anticipation of EFT  99, some financial institutions have
entered into, or plan to enter into, arrangements with non-
depository providers of federal payments services, such as check
cashers or money transmitters.  Such arrangements may involve
giving customers access to EFT deposits in their insured accounts
through an uninsured third-party provider.  As conveyed in OCC 
Bulletin 98-15, the Treasury Department has requested that
financial institutions that participate in such arrangements
voluntarily provide disclosures to customers that fully and
fairly convey information about the fees and costs imposed by all
of the parties to the arrangement, the legal relationships
involved and the applicability of federal deposit insurance
insofar as it is relevant to the arrangement.  

The attached final rule and other explanatory information are
available on the Internet at http://www.fms.treas.gov.

For more information, contact your supervisory office or Carol
Workman, compliance specialist, Community and Consumer Policy at
(202) 874-4428.




                                                       
Stephen M. Cross
Deputy Comptroller
Community and Consumer Policy

Attachment    63 FR 51490