SoundBite Communications Inc. has announced the introduction of SoundBite's Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution, part of its Proactive Marketing Solutions Suite.
According to a news release from SoundBite, the solution enables financial institutions to comply with the Federal Reserve Board's new rule, announced Nov. 12, which prohibits banks and credit unions from charging any consumer a fee for debit-overdraft services without prior consumer consent.
The new rule takes effect July 1, 2010, giving banks less than eight months to secure consumer opt-in for more than 479 million debit cards. The rule, adopted under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, states that an FI must obtain a consumer's affirmative consent in order to provide overdraft service and must give the consumer written confirmation of the consent. SoundBite's on-demand Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution contacts consumers, solicits their consent, and updates the FIs' records systems with the obtained opt-in information.
SoundBite's solution can reach consumers through any combination of automated voice, text and e-mail messaging. Attempts to reach a consumer can escalate from one channel to another — such as from an e-mail to a voice message to a text message — in order to increase response rates. Once a consumer provides affirmative consent, the Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution can automatically send the consumer an e-mail confirmation, along with information describing the consumer's right to revoke notification.
"The Federal Reserve Board ruling requires that financial institutions proactively communicate with their cardholders to gain their consent to provide overdraft services," said Mark Friedman, chief marketing and business development officer for SoundBite. "To meet the July 1 deadline, financial institutions need to deploy a flexible solution that can quickly gain consent from a large number of consumers. Our scalable, on-demand multichannel communications platform, vast experience working with seven of the top 10 U.S. card-issuing banks, and insight into consumer communication preferences uniquely position SoundBite to provide a compelling solution for this immediate need."
SoundBite's Proactive Customer Communications Offering includes solutions to address changing consumer communication preferences, loan modifications through the Making Home Affordable Plan, card activations, collections and loyalty programs.
