Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that charters, regulates and supervises all national banks and federal savings associations, as well as federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. The statute that establishes it, 12 U.S.C. 1, charges it with "assuring the safety and soundness of, and compliance with laws and regulations, fair access to financial services, and fair treatment of customers by" the institutions it oversees. Its head, the Comptroller of the Currency, is the bureau's chief officer, and banking statutes often say "the Comptroller of the Currency" when they mean the agency acting.

Which banks it covers. Federal law assigns each insured bank one "appropriate Federal banking agency" (12 U.S.C. 1813(q)). The OCC is that agency for national banks, federal savings associations and federal branches of foreign banks. The FDIC is the agency for state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System and for state savings associations. The Federal Reserve Board is the agency for state-chartered banks that are Fed members, and for bank holding companies. Credit unions sit in a separate system: the National Credit Union Administration supervises and insures federal credit unions and insures state-chartered ones. A state-chartered bank is also supervised by its state's banking department. So "who regulates my bank?" has a definite answer for every institution, and the OCC's own HelpWithMyBank site has a search tool that gives it.

A long history, and a self-funded budget. Congress created the office as a bureau of the Treasury in the National Currency Act of February 25, 1863. Today the OCC describes itself as "an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury." Its budget comes primarily from the assessments and fees it collects from the banks it supervises, money that by statute "shall not be construed to be Government funds or appropriated monies" (12 U.S.C. 16).

The OCC and the CFPB share the consumer side at large banks. For a bank with total assets of more than $10 billion, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has "exclusive authority" to examine compliance with federal consumer financial laws (12 U.S.C. 5515). The OCC remains the bank's prudential regulator, responsible for its safety and soundness, which is why the OCC sometimes refers a customer's complaint about a large national bank to the CFPB.

What a complaint can and cannot do. The OCC's Customer Assistance Group accepts complaints from customers of national banks and federal savings associations about matters within its supervisory jurisdiction, through an online form or a paper form. It will not take up a matter that has been or is being litigated, and it says it generally has no authority to stop a bank's collection process or legal action. A complaint about a bank the OCC does not supervise belongs with that bank's own regulator.

The OCC grants national bank and federal savings association charters, examines those institutions on a supervisory cycle, writes rules and interpretations for them, and can impose corrective measures on a bank that breaks the law or operates unsafely. Consumers deal with it through HelpWithMyBank.gov, which answers common banking questions and hosts the complaint process.

For example: Tomasz believes his bank charged him $175 in overdraft fees that its own account agreement did not allow, and the bank's customer service line has twice refused to refund them. First he confirms who supervises the bank, using the regulator search on HelpWithMyBank.gov. It shows the bank is a national bank, so the OCC is the right agency. He files a complaint with the OCC's Customer Assistance Group, attaching his statements and the account agreement, and does not include his Social Security number, as the form instructs. If his bank had instead been a state-chartered bank outside the Federal Reserve System, the same complaint would go to the FDIC; at a large bank the OCC may refer a consumer-law question to the CFPB.

Pros

• Every national bank and federal savings association has the same federal supervisor, so a customer has one place to take an unresolved problem.
• The complaint process is free and runs online, with a paper alternative.
• Its consumer site publishes answers on fees, accounts, loans and safe deposit boxes in plain language.

Cons

• It can help only with banks it supervises and matters within its jurisdiction, so a customer has to identify the right regulator first.
• It generally cannot stop a bank's collection process or a lawsuit.
• At banks over $10 billion, consumer-law examination sits with the CFPB, so a complaint can be passed between agencies.