CBA Statement on the CFPB’s Latest Misleading Proposal on Bank Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) President and CEO Lindsey Johnson issued the following statement in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) notice of proposed rulemaking to prohibit non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees that misleads the public into thinking NSF fees are new, when in fact the vast majority of America’s leading retail banks have already removed these fees without legislation or regulation.

“The CFPB’s proposed rule is a marked departure from the agency’s previous disclosures about the rulemaking, in that the proposal would only impact transactions that are declined ‘instantaneously or near-instantaneously.’ It would explicitly not cover check and ACH transactions. Accordingly, we will work with our members to understand what, if any, business practices would actually be impacted by the Bureau’s rulemaking.

“In particular, although the rulemaking acknowledges that ‘many financial institutions in recent years have stopped charging NSF fees,’ the agency relies heavily on ten-year-old data to justify the creation of yet another rule. CBA looks forward to working constructively with our regulators, beyond what appears to be its recent clamoring for headlines, to seek solutions to problems that American consumers are actually facing as they try to make ends meet.”

Background

The CFPB’s NPRM states on page 12:

• “The CFPB has found that banks’ overdraft/NSF fee revenue declined significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels (predominantly due to changes in bank policies), and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of banks with over $10 billion in assets have eliminated NSF fees, representing an estimated 97 percent of annual NSF fee revenue earned by those institutions.”

CBA Advocacy

• To read what regulators, legislators, scholars, thought leaders, and the media are saying about bank-led innovations, click HERE.