SECTION 60.261. Savings Association Complaint Notices

(a) Definitions.

(1) Privacy notice means any notice which a state savings association gives regarding a consumer's right to privacy, regardless of whether it is required by a specific state or federal law or given voluntarily.

(2) Required notice means a notice in a form set forth or provided for in subsection (b)(1) of this section.

(b) Notice of how to file complaints.

(1) In order to let its consumers know how to file complaints, state savings associations must use the following notice: The (name of state savings association) is chartered under the laws of the State of Texas and by state law is subject to regulatory oversight by the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending. Any consumer wishing to file a complaint against the (name of state savings association) should contact the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending through one of the means indicated below: In Person or by Mail: 2601 North Lamar Boulevard, Suite 201, Austin, Texas 78705-4294, Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], or through the Department's website at www.sml.texas.gov.

(2) A required notice must be included in each privacy notice that a state savings association sends out.

(3) Regardless of whether a savings association is required by any state or federal law to give privacy notices, each savings association must take appropriate steps to let its consumers know how to file complaints by giving them the required notice in compliance with paragraph (1) of this subsection.

(4) The following measures are deemed to be appropriate steps to give the required notice:

(A) In each area where a state savings association conducts business on a face-to-face basis, the required notice, in the form specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection, must be conspicuously posted. A notice is deemed to be conspicuously posted if a customer with 20/20 vision can read it from the place where he or she would typically conduct business or if it is included on a bulletin board, in plain view, on which all required notices to the general public (such as equal housing posters, licenses, Community Reinvestment Act notices, etc.) are posted.

(B) For customers who are not given privacy notices, the state savings association must give the required notice when the customer relationship is established.

(C) The required notice must be posted on each website of the savings association that is accessible by the public and either used to conduct banking activities or from which the savings association advertises to solicit such business. The required notice is deemed to be conspicuously posted on a website when it is displayed on the initial or home page of the website (typically the base-level domain name) or is otherwise contained in a linked page with the link to such page prominently displayed on such initial or home page.

Source Note: The provisions of this §60.261 adopted to be effective July 16, 2023, 48 TexReg 3644