Are All Coupons Too Good To Be True?
If you are anything like me, you get so excited and can’t believe your eyes when you get a 50% off, 75% off, or even better, $50 off coupon in the mail or through a text. Normally, at the same time I receive one of these “fantastic” coupons, the store it is from is also having an unbelievable sale, which makes me think that if I do not go shopping immediately I will be losing money. After my initial excitement, reality sets in. I start to think it is too good to be true, and I begin to read all of the fine print on the coupon. I end up taking the five minutes required to read and understand the exclusions of items that are not eligible for the coupon as listed in the fine print; and after I think I understand it, I head out to shop.
Normally, I double-check all of the coupon exclusion details again while in the store to make sure that when I get to the checkout I will not be disappointed by not getting the fabulous deal that I intended to, just because the coupon cannot be used for that item. As hard as I try to avoid failure, it seems like nine times out of ten I do not succeed at actually getting to use the coupon on the first attempt. This does not stop me, though, and I tell the cashier that I will be back in a little bit, with the intention of trying to find an item I actually can use the coupon for. This is when my frustration kicks in, since it takes me way more time than it should to find an item the coupon can be used for. Normally, everything I want to use the coupon for is not applicable because either it’s already on sale or it’s classified in a certain category that makes no sense to me (who would think that my grandpa’s slippers count as lingerie?!). I keep searching the entire store and in the end usually end up buying twice as many things as I originally went for, just so I can get my great deal by using that “fantastic” coupon.
Just as coupons and all their exclusions can be confusing to a customer, consumer regulations can be confusing for financial institutions, and compliance officers in particular. This can be especially true when dealing with some of the more complicated areas of regulations like HMDA, Fair Lending, MLO Compensation Rules, TRID, and UDAAP. If your institution is looking for a second opinion to make sure you looked at all the details of the regulation as required, to avoid being like me at the checkout counter and getting told you misinterpreted the fine print, Wipfli can be a great resource. To help financial institutions prepare for the upcoming HMDA changes, Wipfli offers customized, on-site training to ensure you are interpreting all of the details in order to be in compliance by the January 1, 2018, deadline. Learn more or sign up today for Wipfli’s on-site HMDA training.
