Descriptive Statement

What Is a Descriptive Statement?

A descriptive statement is a bank statement that rundowns deposits, withdrawals, service fees, and other such transactions in sequential order. The term "descriptive statement" sometimes alludes specifically to information on a statement for which no physical thing (like a check) is encased.

Understanding a Descriptive Statement

Under the Federal Reserve System's Regulation E, financial institutions must give statements to customers to each month to month cycle in which an electronic funds transfer (EFT) has happened. Specific instances of an EFT under Regulation E incorporate debit card and automated teller machine (ATM) transactions, as well as automated clearing house (ACH) and non-administrator helped telephone transfers. On the off chance that no EFT has happened, just quarterly statements are important.

The U.S. Federal Reserve issued Regulation E to carry out the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, which the U.S. Congress passed in 1978 to give greater protections to consumers in their banking transactions. The [Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act](/dodd-straight to the point financial-administrative reform-bill) in 2010 gave the recently made Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) authority for rule making under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. The CFPB has amended the rules, which additionally address gift cards and gift certificates, several times in the years since.

Separately, the CFPB likewise has authority over credit card statements, because of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, otherwise called the CARD Act.

A lot of Regulation E frames the procedures that consumers are required to follow when they report errors as to EFTs, alongside the means that banks must take to investigate grumblings and resolve them. Such errors could incorporate the consumer getting some unacceptable amount of money from an ATM, unauthorized debit card activity, or an unauthorized wire transfer. Regulation E additionally frames the rules for reporting and settling incidents including lost or taken debit cards.

Progressively, banks will email descriptive statements or make them accessible electronically, due to the ascent in online banking and mobile banking. While more efficient, and frequently less expensive for the bank, this can likewise lead to cybersecurity dangers. Consumers who receive their bank statements electronically need to take extra care to shield their sensitive data from programmers, utilizing complex passwords, secret word managers, and different forms of security. They additionally need to survey their statements, whatever form those come in, with the goal that they can report any errors speedily.

Consumers who receive their descriptive statements electronically should be watchful in protecting their account information from programmers.

Instances of Descriptive Statements

As verified over, a descriptive statement will list the account holder's debit card and automated teller machine transactions, as well as automated clearing house and non-administrator helped telephone transfers. For instance:

• Debit card transactions normally include payments at nearby stores or other brick-and-mortar and online retailers.
• Automated teller machine transactions would incorporate withdrawals at physical ATM areas.
• Automated clearing house transactions envelop both electronic credits, for example, a direct deposit of the account holder's paycheck, government benefits, or stock dividends, or electronic debits, like bill payments (even assuming the account holder made the payment with a physical check).
• Non-administrator helped telephone transfers would incorporate utility bill payments or different transactions where the account holder punches in a code to approve the withdrawal of money from their bank account by means of telephone.

Features

• Banks must give month to month descriptive statements to account holders who make electronic funds transfers.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has authority over Regulation E, which sets the rules for descriptive statements.
• Electronic funds transfers incorporate debit card payments and ATM transactions.