Today banks are allowed to report overdraft fees as part of general service charge income, but CRL supports greater transparency. In this comment letter to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), CRL supports a current proposal requiring separate accounting for overdraft-related fees. CRL also urges separate reporting for overdraft fees triggered by debit card purchases and ATMs versus overdraft fees triggered by checks and automated clearinghouse transactions.

CRL joined with CFA and NCLC to provide the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) with documentation of bank overdraft practices and their impact on consumers. The CFPB should stop banks from reordering transactions and should prohibit overdraft fees on debit card transactions, which can easily be declined at no cost.

The Center for Responsible Lending commented on Capital One's proposed acquisistion of ING Bank at a public meeting held by Federal Reserve on September 20, 2011.

CRL filed comments to the OCC on August 8, 2011 urging them to strengthen rules on overdraft and bank payday lending. Automatic debit overdrafts, re-ordering of account transactions and direct deposit personal loans or bank payday loans unfairly strip fees from consumers.

Consumer groups fear OCC proposed guidance may legitimize and facilitate the spread of payday lending by national banks, and banks would continue abusive overdraft practices—harming bank customers, undermining state payday loan laws, and weakening the long-term safety and soundness of financial institutions.

Better Overdraft Policies Put Money Back In Consumers' Pockets: Regulators Must Stop Remaining Overdraft Abuses

A Center for Responsible Lending survey indicates that most consumers do not want high-cost overdraft coverage for their checking accounts, and that opt-ins are largely based on aggressive and misleading marketing, rather than clear and accurate information from banks.

The Center for Responsible Lender added its signature to a letter from national consumer organizations asking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to adopt stricter overdraft guidelines. Practices that need to be addressed include enrolling customers in fee-based overdraft when they qualify for much lower-cost coverage, charging excessive fees in amount and frequency, re-ordering transactions to maximize fees and deceptive solicitations.

CRL and other consumer advocates filed a comment letter with the FDIC supporting most aspects of the agency's proposed guidance on overdraft. The groups also made recommendations on how the agency could go even further in protecting consumers from excessive overdraft fees.

CRL and a cross-section of civil rights, labor, consumer, housing, community, business, and sustainable and responsible investor groups sent a joint letter to the FDIC expressing support for bringing attention to abusive overdraft practices. The groups support the agency’s common-sense recommendations for actions banks should take to treat their customers more fairly while offering recommendations for how the FDIC could further address its banks deceptive practices.