Title 17

SECTION 162.5

162.5 Contents of opt-out notice; consolidated and equivalent notices.

§ 162.5 Contents of opt-out notice; consolidated and equivalent notices.

(a) Contents of the opt-out notice - (1) In general. An opt-out notice must be in writing, be clear and conspicuous, as well as concise, and must accurately disclose the following:

(i) (A) The name of the affiliate that has or previously had a pre-existing business relationship with a consumer, which is providing the notice; or

(B) If jointly provided jointly by multiple affiliates and each affiliate shares a common name, then the notice may indicate that it is being provided by multiple companies with the same name or multiple companies in the same group or family of companies. If the affiliates providing the notice do not share a common name, then the notice must either separately identify each affiliate by name or identify each of the common names used by those affiliates;

(ii) The list of affiliates or types of affiliates whose use of eligibility information is covered by the notice, which may include companies that become affiliates after the notice is provided to the consumer;

(iii) A general description of the types of eligibility information that may be used to make solicitations to the consumer;

(iv) A statement that the consumer may elect to limit the use of eligibility information to make solicitations to the consumer;

(v) A statement that the consumer's election will apply for the specified period of time and, if applicable, that the consumer will be allowed to renew the election once that period expires;

(vi) If the notice is provided to consumers who have previously elected to opt out, that such consumer does not need to act again until the consumer receives a renewal notice; and

(vii) A reasonable and simple method for the consumer to opt out.

(2) Specifying length of time period. If consumer is granted an opt-out period longer than a five-year duration, the opt-out notice must specify the length of the opt-out period.

(3) No revised notice for extension of opt-out period. The duration of an opt-out period may be increased for a period longer than the period specified in the opt-out notice without having to provide a revised notice of the increase to the consumer.

(b) Joint relationships. (1) If two or more consumers jointly obtain a financial product or service, a single opt-out notice may be provided to joint consumers.

(2) Any of the joint consumers may exercise the right to opt out on behalf of each joint consumer.

(3) The opt-out election notice must explain how an opt-out election by a joint consumer will be treated. That is, the notice should specify whether an opt-out election by a joint consumer will be treated as applying to all of the associated joint consumers, or as applying to each joint consumer separately.

(4) If the opt-out election notice provides that each joint consumer is permitted to opt out separately, one of the joint consumers must be permitted to opt out on behalf of all of the joint consumers and the joint consumer must be permitted to exercise his or her separate rights to opt out in a single response.

(5) A covered affiliate cannot require all joint consumers to opt out before implementing any opt-out election.

(c) Alternative contents. If the consumer is afforded a broader right to opt out of receiving marketing than is required by this subpart, the requirements of this section may be satisfied by providing the consumer with a clear, conspicuous, and concise notice that accurately discloses the consumer's opt-out rights.

(d) Coordinated and consolidated consumer notices. A notice required by this subpart may be coordinated and consolidated with any other notice or disclosure required to be issued under any other provision of law by the covered affiliate providing the notice, including but not limited to notices in the FCRA or the GLB Act privacy notices.

(e) Equivalent notices. A notice or disclosure that is equivalent to the notice required by this part in terms of content, and that is provided to a consumer together with a notice required by any other provision of law, satisfies the requirements of this section.

(f) Model notices. Model notices are provided in appendix A of this part. These notices were meant to facilitate compliance with this subpart; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be interpreted to require persons subject to this part to use the model notices.

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