Fergie's Tech Blog

Canada: Protection Laws Urged on Electronic Banking

A Canadian Press article, via The Globe and Mail, reports that:

Citing more than 1,000 mistakes a day in preauthorized bank debits across Canada, a coalition of consumers' groups is calling on Ottawa for consumer protection legislation on electronic payments.

The Canadian Consumer Initiative, a six-member coalition that includes the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, says a coming review of the Bank Act is an ideal opportunity to develop comprehensive legislation governing a practice that has grown substantially in recent years.

Nearly 500 million preauthorized payments were processed in 2003, almost a sevenfold rise from 1990. An Environics survey the coalition commissioned in March suggests 12 per cent of bank users in Canada have reported problems with preauthorized payments in the past two years. That translates to 900,000 preauthorized debit problems in two years, or more than 1,000 a day.

posted by Fergie @ 4/28/2006 09:12:00 AM