FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 1, 2021

CONTACT
Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
(202) 251-6700

CFPB Overdraft Study is a Start but New Regulations Needed

Statement from Candace Archer, Consumer and Payday Campaigns Manager at Americans for Financial Reform:

We appreciate the work of the CFPB on drawing attention to the harms of overdraft fees, which take billions of dollars a year out of the pockets of mostly low- and moderate-income households to pad the bottom lines of the country’s big and small banks. And among those households, Black and Latinx households were also far more likely to incur overdrafts. We urge the CFPB to use all the tools that Congress gave it to protect consumers from abuses, including drafting tough new regulations.

It is good news that one major financial institution, Capital One, has decided to forgo overdraft fees even as the megabanks continue them. But voluntary industry measures are not enough. Writing regulations that offer solid protection to consumers no matter where they take their business is essential, and long overdue. We cannot simply hope that banks stop abusing their most vulnerable customers. There is much work for the CFPB to do.

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