November 20, 2009 (FinancialWire) — SoundBite Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SDBT) introduced SoundBite’s Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution, part of its Proactive Marketing Solutions Suite. This solution enables financial institutions to achieve rapid compliance with a new rule announced on November 12, 2009 by the Federal Reserve Board prohibiting financial institutions from charging any consumer a fee for debit card overdraft services unless the consumer has consented, or opted in, to the overdraft services.

With overdraft services, an institution charges a fee for processing transactions when a customer’s account is overdrawn rather than denying the transaction. The new rule becomes effective on July 1, 2010, giving banks less than eight months to secure consumer opt-in for more than 479 million debit cards.

The new rule, which was adopted under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, states that a financial institution must obtain a consumer’s affirmative consent to the institution’s overdraft service and provide the consumer with written confirmation of the consent. However, securing consumer opt-in through the mail can be slow and not cost-effective. A financial institution can use SoundBite’s on-demand Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution to quickly contact consumers, solicit their consent, and update the financial institution’s systems of record with the obtained opt-in information.

SoundBite’s Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution can proactively reach consumers through any combination of automated voice, text, and email messaging. Attempts to reach a consumer can escalate from one channel to another – such as from an email to a voice message to a text message – in order to increase reach-ability and response rates. Additionally, once a consumer has provided affirmative consent, the Debit Card Overdraft Opt-In solution can automatically send the consumer an email confirmation, along with information describing the consumer’s right to revoke notification.

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