press release
CBA Responds to Latest Misleading Narrative from CFPB on Competitive Credit Card Marketplace
Weston Loyd
Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) President and CEO Lindsey Johnson today responded to the latest misleading narrative from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) related to the robustly competitive credit card market:
“The CFPB claims that rising credit card interest rates over the past decade have been against a background of a ‘relatively stable share of cardholders with subprime credit scores.’ This simply isn’t true. The CFPB’s 2023 CARD Act Report explains that ‘as of year-end 2022, cardholding by adults with deep subprime credit scores was at its highest level since at least 2013.’ “The CFPB continues to extend beyond its consumer protection authority to pose questions about setting pricing and profits. At best, those are questions about politics – not bank policy. “Further, the CFPB continues to double-down on its false narrative about the state of competition in the credit card market. CFPB data shows the market share of the top ten issuers continues to decline. But more importantly, try naming any other market that has 10 major participants: 10 auto manufacturers; 10 cellphone manufacturers; 10 internet service providers; 10 pizza delivery chains – much less 4,000 options that consumers can obtain by visiting a website on their smartphones. “CBA and our members support strong consumer protection regulation. We believe, however, for the market to operate effectively, American consumers need a regulator that heeds the limits of its statutory authority and represents facts accurately.”