The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a circular warning remittance transfer providers about making false claims regarding the cost and speed of international money transfers. False advertising of that sort can violate federal law, the agency said in a Wednesday (March 27) press release. This caution applies to both traditional providers of international money transfers and to digital wallets that offer that capability. “Consumers should not be paying junk fees on international money transfers that are advertised as free,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the release. “The CFPB will continue to work with law enforcement to ensure companies don’t illegally burden families with fees or inflated exchange rates using false or misleading claims.”

Sigue Corp. has stopped its money transmission activities after being ordered to do so by financial regulatory agencies from 39 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.“We are no longer processing new money transfers, money orders or bill payment transactions through agents, branches or our SiguePay mobile application, and we are making every effort to refund those transactions that remain outstanding,” a notice on the company’s website said Friday (March 22).The financial regulatory agencies announced their consent order in a Friday press release, saying that Sigue failed to satisfy outstanding money transmission liabilities, violating state law, and “can no longer responsibly serve customers due to its declining financial position.”“This coordinated state action will help customers get resolution more quickly and prevent Sigue from serving any new customers regardless of where they live,” Lisa Kruse, commissioner at the North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions and chair of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), said in the release.Over the past several months, Sigue experienced significant financial deterioration, failed to complete multiple money orders and transmissions, and failed to maintain adequate net worth and permissible investments to cover its outstanding liabilities, according to the release.State regulators identified the company’s troubled financial position and coordinated the consent order with the help of the CSBS and the Money Transmitter Regulators Association (MTRA), the release said.The consent order requires Sigue to preserve all books and records, and provide access to them, and states will use the company’s signed declarations to help impacted customers with the claims process, per the release.“This consent order means states with one impacted customer can provide the same remedy as states with thousands,” Karyn Tierney, director of consumer services at the Arkansas Securities Department and vice president of MTRA said in the release. “It also preserves states’ ability to take additional actions on customers’ behalf as investigations continue at the state and federal level.”In another regulatory action in this space, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in October that took action against Chime Inc., the operator of the Sendwave mobile app, for deceiving customers about the speed and cost of remittance transfers.Chime Inc. is not connected to the California-based FinTech Chime Financial