Legislation to keep megabanks’ overdraft fees expensive among the bills under consideration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 5th at 10 am eastern time, the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Make Community Banking Great Again,” that will feature testimony from Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Vice President and Federal Policy Director Mitria Spotser. This testimony and live stream of the hearing are on CRL’s website at this link.
Among the bills listed for consideration at the hearing is a discussion draft of a resolution that would rescind a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that will lower the typical price of an overdraft fee at very large banks and credit unions from around $35 to $5.
“Blocking implementation of the Bureau’s overdraft rule will stop working-class people from being able to keep hundreds of dollars in their pockets each year instead of handing that money – totaling $5 billion – over to the nation’s biggest banks,” said CRL Vice President and Federal Policy Director Mitria Spotser. “Our polling shows that — across party lines — voters overwhelmingly support the Bureau’s efforts to reign in excessive overdraft charges.”
A September 2024 survey, conducted by a bipartisan polling team, found that 84% of voters support a central component of the rule: limiting the dollar amount banks can charge in overdraft fees to only what the overdraft costs them, with no additional profit. Over eight in ten Republican, Democratic, and independent voters each support the policy.
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Press Contact: Alfred King alfred.king@responsiblelending.org