[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HELP SHED LIGHT ON INTERNATIONAL WIRE TRANSFERS

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                         HON. LUIS V. GUTIERREZ

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 13, 2003

  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the 
``International Money Transfer Disclosure Act of 2003,'' a bill to 
require disclosures involving international money wire transactions.
  Immigrants throughout the United States work hard, save money and 
send billions of dollars to relatives living in foreign countries. The 
money sent home helps finance basic needs ranging from food and 
medicine to education and new homes. Unfortunately, customers wiring 
money abroad are often losing millions of dollars to undisclosed 
``currency conversion fees'' charged by giant firms, such as Western 
Union and MoneyGram.
  Wire transfer companies aggressively target audiences in immigrant 
communities with ads promising low rates for international transfers. 
However, such promises are grossly misleading particularly for those 
with ties to Mexico or other Latin American countries, since companies 
do not always clearly disclose extra fees charged for converting 
dollars into Mexican pesos. While large wire service companies 
typically obtain pesos at bulk bargain rates, they charge a significant 
currency conversion fee to their U.S. customers. The exchange rate 
charged to customers sending U.S. dollars to Mexico routinely varies 
from the benchmark rates by as much as 15 percent. The profits from 
these hidden currency conversion fees are staggering, allowing 
companies to reap millions of dollars more than they make from service 
fees.
  To address these problems, the International Money Transfer 
Disclosure Act of 2003 requires that any financial institution or money 
transmitting business which initiates an international money transfer 
on behalf of a consumer, whether or not the consumer maintains an 
account at such institution or business, shall provide full disclosure 
of all fees involved in all money-wiring transactions, including the 
exact amount of foreign currency received by the recipient of the 
transfer.
  Consumers will also be provided a final itemization of all costs 
dealing with the remittance at the time of the transaction. The 
disclosures will be provided to the consumer in both English and the 
language used by the financial institution to advertise, solicit, or 
negotiate the money transfer.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this sensible pro-
consumer legislation.

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